Invincible
by Brunette Beauty 1
Summary: Here is the sequel to 'Unstoppable,' my young-adult spin on Craig McCracken's 'The Power Puff Girls'. Canon characters belong to Craig McCracken, OC's belong to me, obviously. Rated T for safety...
1. Start Of Sophomore Year Banquet

Start Of Sophomore Year Banquet *Author's Notes At The End Of The Chapter*

Chapter One

"I don't know. I'm so nervous," I told my three best friends as they did my hair and makeup in front of their vanity mirror. "My freshman year was nerve-racking enough as it is, you know. Why should sophomore year be any different? I didn't really make any friends. No one wanted to talk to me. I had no boyfriends either."

"You don't have to worry about a thing, Megan," Blossom Utonium assured me. That's right, my three best friends in the world were the Power Puff Girls; the crime-fighting super heroines that were going to be starting second grade this month. Ha, yeah. I was going to be a sophomore in high school and my best friends were going to start second grade in elementary. I wasn't really sure why I couldn't get a friend my own age. I guessed it was because I could relate to the Power Puff Girls more. Hey, sometimes it seemed that they were even more mature than me if possible.

Blossom was the leader of her sisters. She had long red hair that she wore in a ponytail fastened with a heart-shaped hairclip and a large, bright red bow. She was the smartest of her siblings, and the most mature. She was also very comfortable around people.

"That is right!" Bubbles agreed with her sister as they both worked on my hair. "You will look amazingly beauteous in this prettiest purple dress I've ever seen!"

Bubbles was the sweetest of her sisters. She had blonde hair up in two pigtails, blue eyes, and an adorable disposition.

"Just get out there and own it!" Buttercup, the toughest of her sisters with black hair and green eyes, told me, having handed me my earrings and my bracelets. "You're cooler than anyone that goes to that stupid Pokey Oakes High School! We just know you're gonna have a good time."

I sighed and stared at my reflection in the mirror. I stared at my hazel-green eyes and my coffee-colored brown hair. I stared at my pinkish/tannish lipstick, and the rest of the makeup I was wearing that was mostly the same way. I was wearing a halter top dress in a pale shade of violet, some expensive earrings, bracelets, and silver high-heels. I didn't look like myself. I looked like someone different. I looked like a young woman who had it all together.

On the inside, however, I was a little girl wanting to go hide.

"Girls, are you almost ready?" the Professor called from downstairs.

"Almost ready, Professor!" all three girls said at the same time.

"Okay!" the Professor called back.

"Oh, can't you guys come with me?" I begged.

"Nope," said Bubbles.

"No can do," Buttercup agreed.

"Sorry Megan," Blossom apologized, but all three girls had these smiles on their faces. "It's about time you went somewhere without us. You need to become more confident, and to do that, you've gotta let go of your crutch. The baby bird has to learn to fly without its mother."

What the heck? She was eight years younger than me and she was talking about me being a baby bird and her being a mother bird!

"You guys really don't understand," I told them. "These people that I go to school with don't like me. They don't want to know me. They don't even talk to me."

"That's because you're famous!" Bubbles reminded me.

"Yeah, they're just jealous," Buttercup agreed.

"Don't let them bother you, Megan," Blossom instructed me. "After all, you're the one who's basically friends with the whole city - not including them. They wish they had your success."

"If you say so," I mumbled to myself, rolling my eyes.

Why was I so worried? I was fine socially. I knew how to talk to people - I guess. But it was kinda hard to be fine socially and talk to people when the people you were trying to talk to you were as Buttercup said, jealous.

I saw how they could be jealous.

Some of them had been living in Townsville their whole life, and I just arrived after my eighth grade year of middle school - BAM! Suddenly I was on every villain's main target list, I fought crime alongside the Power Puff Girls as a Power Puff Girl, I was a friend of the Mayor's and of Ms. Bellum, who was now married to my father, by the way. So now she was Mrs. Sara Brody. But anyway, you get the picture. I was a superstar, basically. I was on every newspaper's front page and on every channel -

Oh sorry. I don't mean to get carried away. I was just thinking about my success. I apologize. It took me a moment or two to realize that the girls were talking to me.

"Are you ready to go downstairs yet, Megan?" Blossom asked in sort of an annoyed voice. I'd apparently been ignoring her.

"Uh… yeah," I decided, nodding my head slowly.

"Okay, then here we go!" Blossom said, and the three of them helped me up out of the chair like I wasn't capable of getting up myself and guided me toward the door.

"Gee, wow, thanks for the lift, guys," was all I could say.

"Don't even mention it," Blossom said with a smile.

"Oh Megan, you look so prettiness!" Bubbles gushed.

"Aww, you're so sweet," I told her.

"Yeah, you actually look good tonight!" Buttercup agreed.

I frowned. "Love you too, Buttercup."

Blossom and Bubbles both gave Buttercup a look. "What?"

When we got downstairs I saw that the Professor was there with company. The company he had was my dad, Mrs. Brody, my mother, my step-dad Daniel, and… oh no! The mayor was with them. The mayor and all of his body-guards and everyone who could possibly make my entrance at Pokey Oaks High bigger of a deal than it needed to be.

"Why, hello Megan!" the mayor greeted me enthusiastically.

"Hi Mr. Mayor," I said unhappily. Then I turned to Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup and glared at them. "How could you do this to me?" I asked them through gritted teeth.

"You're a celebrity, Megan," Blossom reminded me.

"Don't you want to make an entrance?" Buttercup asked.

"I would have rather you guys just came with me," I groaned.

"No Megan, this is a special night for you," Bubbles said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I was curious to know.

"You don't want us to ruin it, do you?" Buttercup asked me.

"You wouldn't ruin it," I snapped at her.

"Oh yes we would," Blossom disagreed. "People know that you hang out with the Power Puff Girls, super heroines. They know it very well. You don't have to rub it in their faces."

"Wouldn't bringing the mayor and - a camera crew rub it in their faces?" I asked, enraged when a man lifted a camera and got it ready. "What the heck is a camera crew coming to the banquet with me? Are they going to put the event on the news or something? You guys, I think bringing you would have been less showoff-ish."

"Hey, ya gotta flaunt a little bit," Blossom said quietly.

"I'm gonna be on the news?" I shouted, feeling very upset right now. "Yeah, hear all about it! Megan Carlson-Brody makes a fool out of herself at her Start of Sophomore Year Banquet not talking to people that don't want to talk to her. She just walks around in fifty circles with fifty big cameras stuck in her face."

"It won't be that bad Megan, we promise," Blossom said.

"Yeah, I don't believe you," I said with a scowl. "I don't know why you can't come with me. At least I would have someone to talk to while I'm there, so I wouldn't look like a complete loner."

"We'd like to come with you, Megan," Bubbles assured me. "It's just that we need to be free to fight crime if something happens tonight. We can't be tied up in an event."

"This night is important to me," I said, feeling quite disappointed in them. "Important enough for you not to feel 'tied up' in such an event."

"Hey, is everything alright?" Anna Carlson (my mother) asked, coming up from behind me and placing a hand on each of my shoulders. "This is an exciting night for you. Are you excited?"

"Yeah Mom, I am," I said, turning to her. "And I don't mean to sound rude or anything, but… is all this really necessary?"

I extended my arm in the direction of the camera crew.

"Sure it is, honey," Anna said, nodding her head. "I wish I'd had a camera crew to document my life as a teenager. Don't you want to remember tonight forever?"

"I don't really think I want to," I said honestly. "Weren't you the one who always said, 'privacy is a privilege'?"

"Yeah," Anna said. "But just between you and me, it doesn't really make a difference whether people know about you or not anymore. Especially since there's that evil guy HIM that knows about you whether you're famous or not."

I took a moment to look up at the ceiling as if there was a hidden camera on it. HIM had these… television screens, if you will, that he used to watch everything that was going on at every moment in time at every place in the world. He was one of my worst enemies, but he hadn't been bothering me in a while. I knew he was watching though. I was fascinating to him, somehow. I wasn't really sure why. There was nothing that fascinating about me.

I was just a plain child of divorce who wasn't really concerned with partying or boys or anything like that. I may have seemed mature, but if it were up to me, I would have been starting second grade this year with the girls. It's more my speed.

"But don't worry about him right now," Anna told me. She'd seen the way I'd looked at the ceiling. I gotta be honest: HIM scared the heck out of me. He might have bothered me more than any of the other villains in Townsville - well… with one exception.

"We're ready!" the mayor exclaimed, jumping and waving his arms.

He'd just been having a conversation with Richard (my father), Sara, the Professor, and Daniel. The camera crew all had their cameras up in the air.

"Shall we go?" Anna asked, placing a hand on my lower back and leading me toward the door.

"Yeah, okay. Sorry, I was thinking about something. Can I say bye to the girls -?" I turned around and saw that the girls weren't there anymore. I saw a bright flash of pink, blue, and green outside the window. They had gone to fight crime somewhere. I wondered who it could have been. Whoever it was, I wouldn't be seeing them tonight. But whoever they were, I almost wanted to. I almost wanted them to attack Pokey Oaks High School, just so I could ditch the camera crew.

I knew that was a horrible thing to wish, but sometimes I couldn't help it.

"Uh oh," the Professor said worriedly. "Looks to me like there's going to be some crime tonight."

"When is there not?" Sara asked with a tired sigh.

"It's nothing to be worried about," Daniel said lightheartedly. "It happens every night. We've got a limo; everyone knows not to mess with a limo -"

"No, honey, actually, a limo makes us more noticeable to the bad guys," Anna interrupted, quickly getting Daniel to shut up.

"Oh," Daniel said embarrassedly.

"It doesn't matter!" the mayor assured everyone. "I've seen enough crime in my lifetime to know that everything's going to be fine. Let's just get in the limo and get to the school. We'll be on our jolly way."

So he, the Professor, Anna, Daniel, the camera people, Sara, Richard, and I started toward out the door. Richard walked alongside me and gave me a warm smile. I smiled back and gave him a big hug. I loved Richard. He was the best father any girl could ask for, really. And we'd been through a lot together.

"I'm so proud of you, Megan," he told me as we all crammed up inside the limo. "You're getting to be so grownup."

"Yeah, I can't believe it either," I chuckled and sighed, turning and looking out the window as we drove to see if I could spot the crime.

"You actually want to see what's going on?" Richard asked quietly.

"Yeah," I said, turning around to glance at him. He was looking at his lap and not at all out the window. The crime that went on in Townsville made Richard very uncomfortable. "Megan, I'm glad you stopped fighting crime when you did."

"I had no other choice," I chuckled. "The last time I did anything to save Townsville I caught a bad cold and got every bone in my body broken. I'm not really super the way everyone thinks I am. I don't have powers, and every super hero has powers."

"Batman doesn't have powers," Richard said, smiling briefly. "Just gadgets."

"Yeah, but I don't think the Professor would be willing to make me any," I sighed. "He talks to the girls. They probably tell him all this junk, like I'm unable to fight, I'm totally incapable of doing anything by myself, and I'm a danger magnet…"

"I don't want you to fight crime," Richard said, suddenly serious again.

"Don't worry, Dad," I said for his sake. "I don't want to either."

That was either very true or very untrue. I wasn't quite sure which one.

"Good," Richard said, sounding satisfied. He put his arm around my shoulder. I leaned my head on his shoulder and stared out the window at the same time. I saw the same three flashes of colorful light shoot out from the jail building. I sighed. Whoever had been messing around wasn't going to crash the banquet. Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup had put them in their place.

When we arrived outside the junior/sophomore cafeteria at Pokey Oaks High, there were a ton of police men blowing whistles and trying to hold screaming people back. My heart skipped a beat. For a moment there I'd almost thought that there was another crime going on right here, but the only crime here was that a bunch of crazed fans were standing around dying to talk to the mayor, the camera crew, my father's wife, and… and… me. Obviously, me.

Anna had told me a few months ago that if I ever wanted to avoid talking to fans or signing autographs all I had to do was wave, blow a kiss, and shout "I love you all!" So I did so, and they all cheered with glee. Geez Louise people, I haven't been fighting crime for over a year, I thought to myself.

Half of the camera crew stuck their cameras in my face and several reporters stuck their microphones in front of me, asking questions as I reached forward to open the cafeteria door. The camera crew had been recording me since we'd walked to the limo. I hoped that I would at least get a little room to breathe for two seconds during this banquet. The members of the camera crew that weren't stalking me right now were busy stalking my parents and the mayor.

"Megan, are you thinking of fighting crime again?" a reporter asked me.

"How come you don't fight crime with the Power Puff Girls anymore?"

"Which one is your best friend; Blossom, Bubbles, or Buttercup?"

"Are you dating anyone, Megan? Some lucky young man?"

"Are you still interested in the villainous Ace from the Gangreen Gang?"

"Do you know that just tonight he was arrested for stealing from a candy store; something he's been doing for a while now?"

"Are you happy or upset that your best friends put him in jail?"

"Wait a second," I said, but I doubted they could hear me. My small voice was drowned out by all of their questions. They wouldn't even let me answer any of them, I couldn't believe it. But right now I had a question of my own. "The Gangreen Gang was put in jail?"

"Megan, are you excited about starting your second year in high school?"

"Do you have a lot of friends here at Pokey Oaks High?"

"Do you typically make good grades in school?"

"Megan, are you thinking of ever dropping out of school?"

"Are you gonna live in Townsville forever, or will you move once you're done with school?"

"No, I need to know about the Gangreen Gang," I tried again, but gave up. To hell with these freaking reporters. I was in the cafeteria now, but all I could see was a blur of red lights coming from the cameras and the running mouths of several reporters. I wasn't even able to see which students were already here.

They must have seen the large group come in though, because there were dozens of surprised "The mayor's here at Pokey Oaks High!" shouts.

"Why hello, bright youth of Townsville!" the Mayor greeted them cheerfully.

There was a lot of movement around me. Students were running over to the mayor to get autographs and pictures taken with him. Fortunately this distracted the camera crew and the reporters. They thought the mayor being good-natured with a bunch of high school kids would make a great story, so they fled from me to him.

I was able to duck away from all the commotion and run over to a table at the far end of the cafeteria. There was quite a variety of drinks and snacks on the table, including cokes, sodas, Pepsi, fruit punch, Kool Aid, nachos, Doritos, goldfish crackers, cookies decorated with the smiling faces of the Power Puff Girls drawn on with icing, and a few cakes (they needed a few; there were more students than pieces of cake, after all).

Hopefully I wouldn't be caught on the news pigging out. I helped myself to a piece of cake. The cookies looked fresh, but I just couldn't bring myself to eat one. I knew they'd been made to celebrate the girls, but the thought of eating a cookie with the face of one of my best friends on it made me ill. I had a cup of fruit punch and looked around at the decorations in the cafeteria. There were artistic banners and posters with pictures of Townsville's most famous villains getting beaten up by the Power Puff Girls on them. The villains consisted of Mojo Jo Jo, HIM, Fuzzy Lumpkins, the Gangreen Gang, Sedusa, and Princess Morbucks. I was hardly surprised not to see the Amoeba Boys up there somewhere.

I walked over to an awfully realistic poster to observe the villains. Whoever created it depicted Mojo terribly wrong, I'm afraid. They made him look like an idiot, though their talent was definitely there. Mojo Jo Jo was in no way, shape, or form an idiot by any means. He was actually brilliant. He was brilliant enough to at one point have made me genuinely think that he was going to help give me super powers and protect me from the other villains. In reality he'd made me steal a bottle of Chemical X from the girls so that he could use it for himself, and reek havoc. I'd never met anyone sneakier in my life, and this wasn't just anyone. This was a monkey. A monkey! Or a chimpanzee, rather. But this chimpanzee was smarter than the whole human race combined, which was a scary thought for us.

Also, the artist of this poster had depicted HIM to look completely effeminate. There he was in his skirt and his stiletto boots and his Elizabethan collar; yeah, he wore all that. But this artist had made him look wimpy and just downright incapable of harming anyone or anything. They had gotten him completely wrong. HIM was the scariest thing there was in Townsville. Though he wasn't as masculine as the other male villains he was even more menacing, tough, and intimidating. He had this way of striking fear into people from the moment they looked at him. Hey, he could even strike fear into people when they heard his voice, just his speaking.

Fuzzy Lumpkins, the giant what-is-it with the country accent, looked so looming on this poster. Yeah, he could make people run. He was insane, but to be honest, he was no Einstein. He shouldn't have looked so threatening in this picture. When it all really came down to it, Fuzzy Lumpkins was a dunce. He was a big crybaby who made a fool out of himself whenever he didn't get his way.

Okay, Sedusa was all wrong. Believe me, I knew that. She'd dated my father and even got married to him at one point. I knew how Sedusa looked. Sedusa was not that thin. Nor was she that curvy. Nor was she that pretty. It must have been a boy that created this image because she looked very sultry on this poster. The guy needed to have added some weight, toned the curves down, and the face on that picture because whatever he'd seen of Sedusa in the past was all wrong.

Princess' mouth was too small in this picture. And she looked so young, innocent, and naïve. In fact, she looked like an angel. Was the artist insane or something? There was nothing sweet and little girl-like about Princess. In fact, she was more like some sort of wild creature that ate a little girl! She was the brattiest kid in Townsville with the biggest mouth I'd ever seen… or heard. She was a monster, just like the rest of 'em. It didn't matter that she was a child.

And here they were: the Gangreen Gang. Grubber wasn't grotesque enough to be Grubber. Little Arturo was too tall to be Little Arturo. Big Billy wasn't big enough. Snake's posture was all off, and his tongue wasn't forked. And Ace - well… he didn't look like himself in the picture. The picture made it look as if he had no kind of human decency at all in him.

And it may have seemed that way at first, but - … then he sort of changed after that. He really wasn't a bad person at all. He was just tortured and sad, and came from a family that hadn't cared for him the way they should have. He became my friend… for a brief time period. After he told me he loved me, he sort of just evaporated from my life. I know he didn't love me. There were probably fifty girls out there he said that to, and I had been dumb enough to think that I was actually special. If I had been special, he would have stayed. I was stupid for still caring about him or the fact that he was in jail again tonight. Once he told me how he felt about me, I'd bailed him out of jail the next few times he was arrested, and then he promised me that he would never do anything bad again. And as good as that was, it was actually the last time I ever saw him. Now after all these months of - nothing- he probably expected me to bail him out of jail again like I used to do, didn't he? Like I was actually pathetic enough to do anything for him like the stereotypical, goggly-eyed teenage girl? Well I don't think so, sir. Nuh uh. Not me. You're gonna be in for an unpleasant surprise when you don't see me at the jail -

"Megan Brody," said Amanda Lennon approaching me. I turned around and looked at her. She was wearing a lime-green dress that matched her lime-green headband and her lime-green shoes. It also flattered her shoulder-length golden blonde hair and her tan skin. She looked great, better than me. Why was she here anyway? Was she here to make fun of me, the way she'd done all ninth grade?

"Hi Amanda," I said, frowning and turning away from her.

"Did you hear about the Gangreen Gang?" She wasn't going away.

"Yes," I said in a very stiff tone of voice.

"How about that, huh?" she asked. "They're in jail again. I'm actually surprised. They haven't been there for a few months. I don't suppose you're too happy about that. After all, the leader Al -"

"It's Ace," I corrected her, making a face.

"Whoever," she said with an eye roll, "was kind of like your boyfriend at one point, wasn't he? And you're supposed to be Townsville's Sweetheart or something. Being a good girl with a bad guy isn't exactly setting a good example."

"You're right. It's not," I said with a sarcastic smile, turning and looking at her in the eye. "For your information, Ace was never my boyfriend. He was more of a distraction, to be quite honest. He bugged me and bugged me, trying to get me off track, and not to set a good example, like you said. But I was too strong for that. I never fell for him, and I'd like to see you resist the way I did."

Amanda looked uncomfortable, like that was too big of a challenge for her.

"Piece of cake," she said, after glancing at the piece of cake I was still eating.

"Yeah, I'm sure it is," I said, narrowing my eyes at her. Oh, I didn't want to believe what I'd just said. I'd never looked at my whole story with Ace that way before. Had everything he ever said to me really been a lie? He never really cared about me? He'd just wanted someone to bail him out of jail when he needed them and boost his ego? Why did I care? It's not like I really cared anyway.

"So… I should just leave you here… to your goggling at him up on that poster," Amanda said, sneering at the second part of her sentence.

"That's not him!" I snapped. "That's… someone else."

"Really?" she said amusedly. "And who's that?"

I gave her a hard stare, hoping it would scare her off. It either did or it didn't, because she turned around and got away as fast as she could. But she'd still had that smile on her face as she got away. I sighed sadly. If the girls had been here they could have served her right. It was a bad idea to have come tonight. I should have tried to get myself out of it somehow.

I just wanted to go get Richard and have him and I head home without everybody else. I didn't want to see anyone else that was here tonight. Richard was the only one I could relate to. Of my two parents, I must have taken after him. After all, my dad looked nervous with all of this new attention and my mom seemed to like it very much. That's not the way I would have thought it to be a year ago, back when I thought me and my mom were two peas in a pod.

I really needed to see the girls. I needed to ask them what had gone on before they'd gotten the Gangreen Gang arrested. I needed to know if Ace had mentioned anyone, someone he wanted to bail him out jail.

Before I could move a muscle, a familiar sweet woman with black hair, a pale-white face, big watery blue eyes, and a rounded figure stepped in front of me. It was Ms. Keane, the girl's kindergarten teacher. "Megan!" she said.

"Hi Ms. Keane," I said smiling kindly. "How are you tonight?"

"I'm doing fine," she said. "How about you?"

I thought about what I could say for a moment. "I'm doing livable."

"Oh," said Ms. Keane looking a bit surprised. "Well…"

"But I'm fine," I said. "Or at least I think so…" I glanced at the poster.

"I'm so glad I found you," she told me. "I wanted to let you know that I've moved up from teaching kindergarten to teaching tenth grade, and I've seen your schedule. You're going to be in my sixth period English Two Honors Class!"

My mouth fell open with excitement. "That's great!" I said when we gave each other a hug. "At least I know I'll know one of my teachers this year! And I have one less teacher to worry about not liking me!"

"Oh Megan, how could anyone not like you?" Ms. Keane chuckled kindly. "You're such a sweet girl."

Well, most of the students didn't like me.

"Ah well, I don't know," I laughed. "But this is great. This really is."

"Yeah," she agreed. "Oh my goodness." I thought she couldn't get any paler.

"What? What is it?" I asked, trying to see what she was looking at.

It was the Professor. Hey, he looked strapping. He was talking to Richard and Sara over by one of the bulletin boards. Ha, I never thought before that Ms. Keane and the Professor… "Ms. Keane, you've gotta get over there."

"Huh? W-w-what do you mean? I don't know what you're talking about."

"The Professor looks great tonight. That's what I'm talking about," I explained. "So you should get over there before somebody else does."

Just as I said that an extremely young teacher with long blonde hair approached the Professor, grinned flirtatiously at him and began to talk to him. Ms. Keane sighed sadly and shook her head. "Nah, I really shouldn't. He looks pretty busy over there."

"No he isn't," I scoffed. "No, he is not busy just because some lady randomly decided to go over there and talk to him. She'll disappear soon enough. Then you need to make your move, Ms. Keane."

"Oh I don't know," she said unsurely, fidgeting nervously with her business jacket. "I mean, he and I have gone out before, but then we got into an argument, and we sorta just ended from there -"

"Have you spoken to him since?" I wanted to know.

"Well yeah, but -"

"Then go over there and talk to him, Ms. Keane! Just go do it. I'm sure he wants to talk to you too."

"You really think so?" Ms. Keane looked up, and I did too. I was excited to notice the fact that the Professor kept glancing up at Ms. Keane like she was at him.

"Yeah, you go for it, Ms. Keane," I sighed. "I'm never gonna have my fairytale ending, so why shouldn't you?"

Ms. Keane turned and looked at me. "Megan, there's no need to be so -"

"I know. It's okay. I don't care. Who needs a guy, anyway - well, no, you do! Go get the Professor. Look, Blondie's talking to the Mayor now. Go get him."

"Aww Megan, thank you," Ms. Keane said and then she walked away.

Ms. Keane was a friend of my familys' and a friend of my friends'. She was also a friend of mine, so I didn't mind helping her to hook up with the Professor. I wished there was a guy out there who was as interested in me as the Professor obviously was with Ms. Keane. As I thought of this I watched as the funny little old man Barney Mayor flirted with the young busty blonde. Wonder what his wife would have thought of that. Hmm. The mayor was an interesting character.

"Hi Megan," Richard said when he and Sara walked over to me.

"Hi you guys," I said faintly. "Are you enjoying the party?"

"Yes, very much so," Sara said. "Aren't you?"

"Honestly, no," I confessed.

"Aww I'm sorry, Megan," Sara said sympathetically. "Is there anything we can do to help you?"

"No, there really isn't, I'm afraid," I apologized. "We should head home."

"Oh Megan," Richard sighed. "Isn't there anyone here you'd like to talk to?"

I looked a few feet ahead and watched Amanda Lennon and some of her friends flirt with Cody Hall, the tall football captain. "No," I said, shaking my head as I stared nonchalantly at Cody. "We should just go home. I'm sick of those cameras anyway. They're gonna put me on the news being all by myself."

"Maybe we should head home if Megan doesn't feel comfortable…" Sara said; just a thought, to Richard.

Richard sighed tiredly again. "I'm sorry Megan. I'm sorry that tonight didn't go the way you had hoped it would."

Honestly, I hadn't had any hopes for tonight. I knew it would be this way.

"That's okay, Dad," I assured him. "It's not your fault."

"What are we supposed to do?" Richard said quietly to Sara. "I thought we would all leave together. The Mayor's got the limo, and that's our only way of transportation home -"

"We could go for a walk," I suggested. "Get a little bit of fresh air."

"A walk?" Richard repeated fearfully. "At Townsville in the middle of the n-"

"A walk sounds lovely, Megan," Sara said. "You lead the way."

I bit my lip and smiled apologetically at Richard after having nodded and grinned triumphantly at Sara. "Let's go," I told them, and I turned, and we were on our way. As I approached the door, Anna touched my arm.

"Where are you going?" she asked, and when I didn't answer that moment, she looked up at Richard and Sara for an answer.

"Megan wanted to go home a little bit early," Richard explained nervously. He always got nervous when he had to explain anything to Anna, like he thought she was going to yell at him whatever he said. "We're gonna walk home."

Fortunately for him Anna didn't say anything. Her mouth just sort of opened; she was speechless. She put her hand down and just watched as Richard, Sara, and I walked out the door. When we got outside, several screaming people tried to shove the Mayor's body guards out of their way to us.

"Megan, you look gorgeous tonight!" some thirteen-year-old girl told me.

"Thank you," I said to her. I guessed she couldn't see very well in the dark.

"Megan, you've inspired me so much!" a young woman shouted at me.

"Megan, what's your favorite color?"

"Megan, can you give me Ace's number?"

"Megan, can I be a Power Puff Girl too?"

"Come on, let's go!" I said, grabbing Richard by the hand and breaking into a run. Sara was able to keep up. We slowed down once we were far enough from the screaming crowd. Richard sighed with relief when we were almost to the suburbs.

"Wow Megan, you really are our good-luck charm. I'm sure if you hadn't been here, several robbers and crooks would have attacked us by now," he said.

"Dad, you have got to relax!" I laughed when we entered our neighborhood.

Sara laughed too. "She's right, you know. You're so uptight."

"Hey, I wasn't always that way," Richard said quietly. And he was right.

"Good evening!" Maryanne Smith called to us when we passed by her house.

"Good evening, Maryanne!" Richard replied.

"Hi!" Sara said to her.

"Hey Mrs. Smith!" I said, waving my hand.

"Harold, why don't you say hi to them?" I heard Maryanne spit at her husband, who was just sitting glumly in his little lawn chair, reading the paper. "They're such nice neighbors. Why don't you say hi to them?"

"Maryanne…" Harold whined in a baby-voice, looking up at her.

So Harold wouldn't say hi to us. That's okay. I think we would survive.

Richard unlocked the front door when we got to our house. I breathed in and out when I got in the living room. It felt so good to be in the peace and quiet now. It wasn't like I didn't like the excitement of the city, but tonight was just too much. The girls had pushed me into going to the school and I'd gotten nothing out of the night, except maybe Ms. Keane to go talk to the Professor.

I flipped on the light switch and sat down on the couch in front of the TV.

"Did you hear about the Gangreen Gang?" Sara whispered to Richard.

"Yes," Richard whispered back as they quickly walked in the hallway to talk some more about the situation. Thanks a lot, you guys. Now I remembered the whole Gangreen Gang situation. I hadn't wanted to. I took a troubled deep breath, grabbed the remote, and turned the TV on. There was a quick news report on the robbery. It wasn't a long one, since robbing from a candy store wasn't disastrous.

I guessed they'd felt the need to put it on the news since the Gangreen Gang hadn't struck in a few months. My blood boiled when I watched the recap of the police putting handcuffs on Ace and placing him in the vehicle. "It's lucky the Power Puff Girls were able to arrive quickly on the scene of the crime," said the male reporter. "The clerk at the candy store had been tied up and threatened before the gang began stealing. We should never assume that the Gangreen Gang have finished after another long no-show. Ace has proved himself completely unpredictable. Alright Susanna, let's turn it over to you."

"Thanks Craig," said the female reporter. She had a wide grin on her face, but I didn't think it had to do with the fact that she was on television. "Oh, and speaking of Ace, tonight we've caught some footage of his ex-good girl Megan Brody at Pokey Oaks High for the banquet introducing her to her sophomore year of high school. Here we've got her snacking on a very large (probably very fattening) piece of cake, gazing dreamily up at a poster decorated with drawn pictures of all of the villains, including Ace. Ya'all don't happen to think that Townsville's Sweetheart knew about the robbery ahead of time, do you? You don't happen to think that maybe the knowledge of robbery was the reason for her craving of sweets?"

"Shut up," I said angrily, turning the TV off. "I can't believe it."

"What don't you believe?" Richard asked curiously, walking up to the couch. He was holding a piece of cold pizza in his hand.

"Nothing," I groaned, shaking my head. "What they're saying on the news. They're saying that Ace and I ever had something, and that I have a craving for sweets. It just really bugs me. I don't know why they've got to penalize a girl on television for eating a piece of cake, you know."

"Just don't let it bother you, Megan," Richard told me.

"Yeah I try not to," I sighed. "But I don't really know why everyone's still so interested in me anyway. I haven't done anything interesting in over a year. All they're doing is talking about me like I'm dirt, starting rumors about me, and subjecting me to all the people out there I don't want to be subjected to."

"You don't have to worry about it, Megan," Richard said smiling kindly at me. "Those people you're afraid of haven't tried to hurt you for over a year. I think they've moved on."

"Well that is a good sign, I guess," I sighed. "But I'm not afraid. I'm just…"

I wasn't quite sure what to say after that, so I just let my voice trail off.

"I know," Richard said. "You know, even though your mother and Daniel seem to like it here a lot, they're going to have to go home eventually. And if it makes you feel any better or safer, you can -"

"No Dad," I argued, shaking my head. "I'm not leaving the girls here."

Richard was quiet for a moment. Then he said, "I'm just glad to hear that you're not so concerned with Ace's well-being anymore."

"Never was, Dad," I muttered grumpily.

"Sure, I know," Dad said, but he didn't sound convinced. "Good night Meg."

"Good night Dad," I said bitterly, and I rolled myself into a stiff little ball after he walked into the hallway. Ugh, I couldn't believe I was ever so weird to like that… that… UGH! What got into him anyway? Tying up and threatening candy store clerks? A bunch of months of nothing and then this impulsive little hoax? Hey, what did I care? He was punished now anyway. He was where he belonged.

*Author's Notes*

You told me you wanted to see a sequel, and fortunately I started watching "The Power Puff Girls" again, so here it is. Okay, so here's a couple of things. First of all, I do not like Ace. He is not my type at all. I just needed someone for the first story to be sort of a romantic figure, and I wanted them to be from the show. He was the best thing I could find. Second of all, I was lucky enough during the posting of the first story to be told that Megan wasn't a Mary-Sue, especially because when I posted the first story I had never heard of a Mary-Sue or that it was good to avoid them. I hope that she continues to not be a Mary-Sue. I've looked up the definition several times and have avoided all the things that scream "Mary-Sue." Please give me some advice on how I can continue to avoid the famous fanfiction trap. I've tried to avoid grammatical and spelling errors. "Goggly-eyed" was just something I made up from out of nowhere. I hope you like the sequel so far. I had originally finished a sequel, and the reason it's taken me so long to post was because I didn't like the originally sequel I wrote. This is not it. This is a second attempt at a sequel, and I like it much better than the other one. I had to take a break before attempting at it again. I've worked to make Megan seem much more real in this one, and she wasn't as real in the other sequel. Hope you enjoyed!


	2. Girl Talk

Girl Talk *Author's Notes At The End Of The Chapter*

Chapter Two

I was woken by the sound of the front door opening. My eyes opened and I saw Maryanne standing there with a ton of grocery bags in her arms. "Oh thank you for all your trouble and time, Megan," she said out of breath. "I really appreciate it. With my husband working overtime, me out shopping, and my son spending the night at a friend's house, Julie really needs someone around to baby-sit her."

Julie was sitting on the floor in front of the TV, brushing her Barbie's hair.

"It was really no trouble at all," I assured Maryanne, standing to my feet. "I baby-sit. It's what I do. Oh my goodness, let me help you with those." I hurried and grabbed one of the grocery bags that was about to fall out of her arms.

"Oh thank you Megan," she said when I caught it and set it up on the counter. "Oh it really means a lot that you have the time for your neighbors. I expect you must be a very busy person."

"Me?" I scoffed. "No. If you mean busy with my first week of school, I go and I go home. It's not been much so far. I never have anything to do after school, except hang out with the Utoniums maybe."

"Right," Maryanne said after a long pause.

"Well, see you next time Mrs. Smith," I said, putting on my jacket and walking toward the door to leave.

"Wait!" she told me and I turned around. "Here's a tip for your trouble."

She handed me a twenty dollar bill. It was no two-hundred dollars the way I used to receive money when I baby-sat Princess Morbucks. "Thank you Mrs. Smith," I said smiling politely. "Thanks a lot." I turned around and walked out the door.

There was something peaceful about the suburban Townsville on a Wednesday night. The only sound heard was coming from off in the city, except for maybe the Talking Dog having a "conversation" with the other dogs in the neighborhood that really couldn't say anything back to him. He acknowledged me when I walked by.

"Hi Megan! 'S nice to see you this evening!"

"Aww, hi boy," I said, approaching him and scratching him under the ears. The other dogs he had been talking to came up to me, and I pet them all as well. "How are you tonight?" I asked the Talking Dog.

"Fine, tonight," he replied. "But I've just got that animal's intuition, you know. Things aren't gonna be so hot soon. I have a bad feeling…"

"That's only natural," I chuckled. "We live in the City of Townsville."

"Yeeeeeah, but I mean bad for Townsville too," the dog said gloomily.

He was being a little depressing tonight. "Bye guys," I told the dogs.

They all barked at me, begging for me to pet them one more time. So I did, but then I was on my way back to my house. When I entered the house no one else was home. Well I shouldn't have expected for them to be, I guess. After all, they both worked late hours at the Mayor's office. Richard had gone through a serious career upgrade after he married Sara Bellum.

"Hi everybody," I said even though there was no one there. I smiled to myself as if I was hilariously funny and threw my backpack down on the lounge chair. I glanced out the back window at the pool (yes, we'd been able to afford a pool with all the money we'd been earning), and then looked around at all the expensive furniture we'd bought. I tried to think back and remember what the place had looked like before I was known to the public eye. It was kinda hard. All I remembered was the single coffee table (the only table in the whole house; considered the dinner table), and the beanbag chairs all around every room.

I headed to the closet in the hallway and grabbed a towel or two to set up my shower. I entered the bathroom and took off all my clothes. That was always the worst part of every shower. HIM saw everything, all the time. I quickly covered myself with the towel once my clothes were off, but when I stepped into the shower I had to take the towel off so I covered myself with my arms. Ugh, when the water started I needed to give myself the shower. I couldn't worry about being gawked at. I knew this was a big risk and I would probably be dead by the end of the hour, but I stuck my tongue out at nothing. Hey, HIM could see that if he could see everything. I just wanted him to be aware that I knew he was watching.

As I shampooed my hair, rinsed it out, and washed myself, I became more uncomfortable. I began to regret having stuck my tongue out, and felt almost as though I could hear that echoing laughter, but very softly. So softly that I was probably just imagining it, but maybe not. Anything could happen in Townsville. I became so afraid that my eyes became watery a little bit, and it wasn't just from the shower water. I covered myself with my arms again just for safety, even though I knew it wouldn't help anything. I had been so afraid that I'd stayed a whole twenty minutes extra more in the shower than I'd been planning on. I'd just been too afraid to move a muscle. But then I remembered that that was what HIM wanted. He wanted to make his victims upset. So wherever he was, I wasn't going to let myself get upset. I quickly jumped out of the shower then, wrapped the towel around myself, and then took it off at the speed of light, changing into my clothes.

I'd gotten myself so upset that I started to cry audibly. I cried as I blow-dried my hair. HIM scared me more than I wanted him to. He was just one of those people who you'd been having nightmares about since you were a little girl but you never really worried once you woke up because you knew that you were never going to have to meet them if they existed. When I met him, that whole mindset changed.

I was now dressed in my oversized white t-shirt and my blue extra short-shorts. I was sitting on the floor in front of my television set, working on my homework. I had a lot of it. Believe me. I had the news on though, so I could look up and see what was going on whenever I had a moment. Right now there was a Breaking News report on a giant alligator-monster that was attacking the city. I saw that Blossom and Buttercup were taking care of business. Where was Bubbles?

I nearly jumped out of my skin when there was a knock on the door. Could it have been Richard or Sara? Could it have been HIM? It couldn't have been, right? You'd think he would have found a more dramatic way to get inside a house, not by knocking on someone's door. I stood up and cautiously approached it.

It was Bubbles. I'd let her in after seeing her through the little peephole. She'd been smiling and waving up at me. "Hey Bubbles," I said after I let her into the house. "Why aren't you stopping that monster with your sisters?"

"There's been too much crime lately," Bubbles said, looking around. "And I missed you. I decided I would come over and see you!"

"Aww, you're so sweet," I said as she sat down by my homework.

"Oooh, what's this?" she asked, lifting my Geometry worksheet.

"Geometry," I chuckled grimly, walking over to her.

"It looks like fun!" Bubbles said, admiring the troublesome worksheet.

"You wanna do it?" I laughed. "You're probably better at it than I am."

"Oooh, can I?" she asked excitedly.

"Sure, go ahead," I told her. "I've got Biology to worry about anyway."

What was I doing? I was letting a second-grader do my Geometry homework. But I wasn't worried. After all, she was a Power Puff Girl. The girls were super at everything. They must have been super smart too (or at least Blossom was).

"Finished!" Bubbles exclaimed triumphantly after twenty minutes, waving the worksheet in front of my eyes. I took it from her and observed it. Hey, everything looked perfect! "I know all of my shapes the bestest!" Bubbles explained.

"Oh this is wonderful, Bubbles!" I said in amazement. "I should have you do my Geometry homework all the time."

"Oh shucks," Bubbles said, waving her hand in a No-Trouble-At-All fashion.

We would glance up at the news every so now and then. "Hey," I said, turning to smile at Bubbles after the TV had shown Blossom and Buttercup high-fiving each other and the alligator-monster groaning and heading off into the water. "Looks like they've done it again."

"Yep," Bubbles said cheerfully. "Blossom and Buttercup to the rescue!"

"Bubbles to the rescue," I pointed out.

"Huh?" she said curiously, looking at me.

"Well, first of all, you saved me from having to complete my Geometry homework," I reminded her, lifting the worksheet briefly. "And also, I'm glad to have company here. I was really freaked out before you got here."

"Why?" she wanted to know.

I looked around nervously, took a deep breath, and quietly, said "HIM."

Bubbles looked uncomfortable. "Is he here?" she squealed nervously.

"No, don't worry, but you never really know where he is," I pointed out. "And remember last summer; the one before this past one we've just gotten out of? Every single time I saw him he would never forget to mention how much he wanted to get me alone? It was kinda creepy, and I don't really know what he meant by it, but I'm gonna find out if I continue to be all by myself."

Bubbles' eyes were wide and her face was pale. "Don't worry Megan," she said after a long moment of silence. "HIM's messed with me and my sisters plenty of times and he knows what happens when he does. If he messes with you, he'll get it, because you're like our older sister!"

"Aww Bubbles," I sighed. "You guys are amazing. You don't even know how lucky I am to have friends like you and your sisters. I wouldn't trade you in for all of the students at Pokey Oaks High. But I'm really not so worried. It's just a thought."

"It's okay to admit you're afraid, Megan," Bubbles said quietly. "We all are."

But you guys are super heroines who'd taken HIM down several times. I'm just an ordinary girl who doesn't have super powers or defense skills. I may have kicked some butt in the past, but I'd gotten lucky. And it wasn't against HIM. It would take a miracle to be able to take HIM down. If I were to admit my being afraid of HIM, he would probably come down extra hard on me.

"Yeah but I'm not," I lied. "He just freaks me out, but I'm not afraid."

Bubbles didn't seem to wish to discuss this any further. "Can we have something to eat?" she changed the subject.

"Oh I would love to, but I really can't cook," I chuckled embarrassedly. "A year ago I lied to my mom, telling her I knew how to cook, because I knew she wouldn't have let me stay with Richard if I said I couldn't. So I don't really -"

Before I could finish my sentence, Bubbles was gone in a flash of blue.

I squinted my eyes curiously. Then I figured she must have gone to the kitchen, and I was right. I could hear her messing around with plates and food and such. I just sat there dumbfounded.

"Voila!" Bubbles said returning with a bowl of spaghetti and a chef's hat.

My mouth dropped in amazement as she handed me a fork. "Bone petite!"

I took a bite out of the spaghetti, looked up at her, and said, "What are you guys? Wonder Girls? I'm not even kidding you; you guys are unbelievable."

Bubbles giggled, flattered. "Thank you," she said, sitting back down.

"I'm serious, you guys make me look so unimpressive," I said.

"What?" Bubbles laughed. "You're the one with the body!"

I scowled at her in shock. "Bubbles, I do not have one."

"Yes you do!" Bubbles accused me. "I just hope that when I'm your age I can have a body as good as yours!" She stood up and began to walk around with her hands on her hips, strutting in a way that one would who really liked their body.

"I hope you do too," I said bitterly. "I hope yours is 'better', in your mind, 'cause I really don't have one. Honestly. You're just making me feel really awkward and embarrassed right now. I really don't have a shape."

"That's because you wear clothes that don't display it!" Bubbles teased. "Except for that dress we bought you. That's an exception!"

"Bubbles, I'm warning you," I laughed, pointing the fork at her. "You're embarrassing me. Let's never talk about this again, okay? It's not funny."

"If it's not funny, then why are you laughing?" she was curious to know.

"Because you're ridiculous," I couldn't stop laughing. "Just shut up."

She laughed too and then said, "I don't see why you're so upset about it. I would love to be able to have a nice body and get attention from boys."

I stopped laughing. "I don't want attention," I muttered.

"Why not?" Bubbles asked confusedly.

"'Cause… boys are liars," I told her. "They're complete jerks. I don't think I'm old enough to be able to handle them yet. And some of them just… ugh! Some of them just creep me out. They're so crude and all." I set my fork down.

"If you say so," said Bubbles, and she continued to eat.

"Speaking of creepy guys…" I began nervously. "When you guys arrested the Gangreen Gang… Did Ace happen to - I mean, did he say anything to you?"

"No," Bubbles said cautiously. "Like what?"

I groaned. That was basically a no, but I guessed it wasn't worth giving up yet. "Did he happen to mention anyone to anyone? I mean, did he say he wanted a certain person to bail him out of jail or anything?"

"Well I wouldn't know," Bubbles said, shrugging her shoulders and looking down at her spaghetti bowl. "I don't really talk to Ace. He mostly talks to Blossom, and Buttercup tries to talk to him but he likes to ignore her. I guess it's because she used to love him at some point and he knows he can mess with her mind."

I frowned. "Really?" I said, outraged at what she said. Poor Buttercup.

"Well it's just a hunch," Bubbles said, looking up at me again. "Why?"

"No reason," I said quickly. "That just sounds like a cruel thing to do."

"Yeah, well, it shouldn't really bother her," Bubbles pointed out. "It doesn't really bother me. I mean, it's Ace. He's a weirdo! I'm glad he doesn't talk to me."

"Oh," I said smiling. "Yeah, I'd be glad too." I looked down shamefully.

Bubbles eyed me suspiciously, so I avoided her gaze. It was awkward like that for a few minutes, but I finally looked up at her, smiled, and said, "So… is there anything else you'd like to do?"

"Oooh!" Bubbles said standing up. "I want to do your hair!"

"Um… okay." I wasn't really one for hours of cosmetics (which I was probably gonna get), but Bubbles wanted to make me look good, so okay. I didn't want to be a party pooper anyway.

Bubbles grabbed me by my arm and flew me to the bathroom really fast. I was afraid that my stomach was upset now and that I would have to throw up. "Bubbles, can you please give me a warning next time you decide to go that fast?"

"Face the mirror!" Bubbles demanded, making me face the mirror.

"Okay then…" I said, without knowing what else to say.

Bubbles opened Sara's beauty cabinet and grabbed a curling iron. "Do you want me to curl your hair?" she asked. I shook my head honestly, so she grabbed the hair straightener. "Want me to straighten your hair - but it's already so straight!"

"Yeah, but you can straighten it anyway," I told her. "These two bangs of mine are weirdly curly and I would like them to match the rest of my hair."

"Okay, then the hair straightener it is!" Bubbles exclaimed cheerfully, plugging it in and then beginning. I waited as she straightened it for a few minutes. I just sat there, thinking about things as she did so.

"I remember when I met you and your sisters," I said. I saw Bubbles' reflection nod in the mirror. I continued, "Before I met you I thought I was so grownup. My parents got divorced when I was nine, so I knew all about lawyers and custody battles and all this other kind of stuff. Anna was always sure that I knew all about the realities of things because she didn't want me to live a life lying to myself. She would have never imagined Townsville; not before I came here.

"When I met you guys, I was shocked. Blossom made me feel like a kindergartener. I was so blown away. She just has this presence to her; she's the type of person who really stands out in a room, and gets everyone else interested, listening to whatever she has to say. And you were so friendly. And Buttercup's so in-your-face, you know. Now I always thought before then that I had pretty good social skills, but I just got intimidated when I met the three of you. I don't know if it was because I was shocked or jealous or embarrassed or not. I mean, you guys were like dynamos and I was supposed to be looking after you to baby-sit you. That was a big task for me, and I didn't know how to handle it.

"Then when you saved me from the Gangreen Gang and told me who you were, I decided that I didn't have to feel like I was always being put under the radar anymore. I decided I liked me better as your friend than your baby-sitter, and it's pretty obvious that you guys liked me better as your friend than your baby-sitter too. Oh my goodness, I didn't even deserve you guys with all those times I went behind your back and did what you didn't want me to. I baby-sat for Princess Morbucks… I mean, I stole the Chemical X from the Professor's lab and gave it to Mojo JoJo…"

My voice trailed off, and I looked down at my lap and shook my head shamefully. Bubbles wasn't reacting or saying anything so I looked up at her reflection to make sure she was okay. She was biting her lip like there was something she really wanted to say, but she wasn't really sure how she should say it. Oh my goodness, if she kept biting her lip she was going to start bleeding!

"Bubbles, what is it? What's wrong?" I asked, turning my head to look at her.

What she did after that was unexpected. She turned away, hid her face behind the towel hanging on the rack, and began squealing in muffled tones. I had a feeling she was making a confession, but she wasn't absolutely certain that she wanted me to hear what it was. I grabbed the towel, pushing it away from her face.

"Bubbles, what are you doing?" I wanted to know. She looked ashamed.

"Oh Megan!" she cried, flying up so that her round head was only an inch or two away from my face. "Have me and the girls ever told you the story of what happened when we were first created?"

"Yeah, plenty of times," I said. "Sugar, spice, and everything nice: these were the ingredients chosen to create the perfect little girls. But Professor Utonium accidentally added another ingredient to the concoction - Chemical X. Thus, the Power Puff Girls were born! Using their ultra-super powers Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup have dedicated their lives to fighting crime and the forces of evil!"

"No, no, no, not that story!" Bubbles insisted, shaking her head. "No! Of what happened after that?"

"No," I said in surprise. "You've never told me what happened after that."

"Well then this is the right time to do it!" Bubbles decided. "It was so cool and all! We suddenly came to life, and Blossom said hi to the Professor, and then he introduced himself to us, and he asked us what our names were, and Blossom said that he should name us since he made us, and -"

"No, no, no, Bubbles, not the whole story!" I begged her.

"Okay," Bubbles said embarrassedly. "But anyway when we revealed our powers to the city everyone hated us and thought we were freaks. But then we met Mojo JoJo, but he went just by JoJo at the time. He told us that if we were to help him and give him some Chemical X he could make the world a better place. The next thing we knew he'd made an evil army of apes to help him take over the world! He'd lied to us the same way he lied to you. That's why we forgave you, because we knew what it was like to be lied to by Mojo Jojo!"

"Oh my goodness," I said in disbelief. "That is crazy."

"Yes I know," Bubbles agreed. "Oh Megan, I'm so sorry. We should have told you sooner." She started to cry and hugged me around my waist. I stroked her buttery blonde hair to make her feel better.

"Aww Bubbles, don't worry. It's not your fault. It's okay," I assured her.

"No, but we should have told you before Mojo tricked you," she insisted.

"You didn't even know I met Mojo before he tricked me," I reminded her. "Hey, you made my hair look beautiful. You're quite the little hair-stylist, aren't you? Wanna watch a movie or something?"

Bubbles stopped crying and beamed happily. She flew across the house to get a movie from my shelf. She wound up choosing Titanic, because she was apparently in love with Leonardo DiCaprio. She put the DVD in the player in my bedroom and sat down on the floor eating from a bag of popcorn. I sat down next to her and shared the popcorn she was eating.

Most of the time we didn't even pay attention to the movie. We just talked.

"I remember that I was actually scared when I first saw the Amoeba Boys," I laughed. Bubbles laughed too. She tried not to, but she couldn't help it. I mean, who was scared of the Amoeba Boys? "I guess you can't blame me though," I sighed. "They were giant viruses. I'd never seen anything like it in my life."

"They don't do anything," Bubbles giggled. "Except make people sick, like they made me sick and they made you sick….."

"They made you sick?" I asked in surprise. "You never told me that."

"There is a lot of things we didn't tell you!" Bubbles bragged.

"Come on, tell me some of it," I dared, looking her right in the eye.

"What does you wishes to know?" she asked, hiding her face behind the bag of popcorn. I could tell she wasn't completely sure she wanted to tell me everything, or maybe she was just playing. I removed the bag from her hands and hid it behind my back. She began to giggle and reached for it, but I took it out of her reach.

"Tell me how you guys first met Fuzzy Lumpkins," I was curious to know. I already knew how she met Mojo and Sedusa. And I guessed that they met the Gangreen Gang when Buttercup developed a crush on Ace.

"Well one day Fuzzy Lumpkins chased this squirrel into the city because it was on his property and he wound up hurting lots of innocent people, so we followed him back into the forest and made sure he was put in jail," Bubbles explained. When I asked her how she and her sisters met Princess, she said, "She was the new girl in Ms. Keane's kindergarten class and she was so rich and fabulous! She wanted to be a Power Puff Girl but we told her she couldn't be so she got mad and challenged us to a fight."

"Haha," I laughed, just attempting to imagine what things would be like if Princess was a Power Puff Girl. That was when another thought entered my mind. "Wow… Bubbles… I never thought of it this way before… Yes, I know there's monsters. And I know there's crooks and robbers. But… a part from those, are there any other villains? Like the Mojo, Sedusa, Fuzzy - um, Princess type?"

Bubbles was quiet for a moment, and then she looked up at me. "Yes," she finally said. "Yes, there's others. There's the repulsive Roach Coach -"

"Ew! What?" I interrupted worriedly. "What's a Roach Coach?"

"He was this roach that disguised as an ugly man and controlled a bunch of roaches!" Bubbles explained, waving her arms for dramatic effect.

"And," I began, making a face. "Do you think I'm gonna meet him?"

"Oh no," Bubbles said, shaking her head. "He doesn't strike that often. I think he's done messing with Townsville. After all, bugs don't live for too long."

"True," I said, nodding after thinking about it for a moment.

"And then there's the Boogie Man -"

"The Boogie Man?" I repeated in fright. "Th-th-the actual Boogie Man?"

"Mmm hmm," Bubbles said regrettably, nodding her head. "But it gets even scarier than that!"

"Oh no…" I said faintly. "What could be worse than -?"

"There's the evil zombie magician!" Bubbles screamed.

"ZOMBIE?" I repeated. I wanted to scream.

"Yes!" Bubbles assured me. "At the end of his life, a little girl revealed him as a fraud, and he got killed after that! Once he wanted revenge and returned."

I was starting to get second thoughts about living in Townsville. I'd always thought HIM was bad enough. But boogie men and zombies? What was next?

"Then there was that evil cat that hypnotized the Professor into making cats the owners of people," Bubbles continued. Okay, so that wasn't so bad. If Mojo could turn humans into dogs then a cat that could turn cats into humans (basically) wasn't any worse. I could handle that more than boogie men and zombies.

Bubbles then said, "There was Rainbow The Clown who could drain the color out of and freeze people just by touching them."

I thought I was gonna be sick. Boogie men, zombies, and evil clowns…..

"Then there was the computer geek that added me and my sisters to his collection of merchandise without permission!" Bubbles said angrily. "And then there was Mr. and Mrs. Smith -"

"Wait!" I interrupted. "Did you just say Mr. and Mrs. Smith, like the neighbors Mr. and Mrs. Smith?"

"Yes," Bubbles said nodding. "Yes, once when we went to their house for -"

"They're villains?" I said in shock.

"Only when they crack," Bubbles tried to convince me. "Which isn't very often. So don't worry about it."

But I was gonna worry about it. I'd been baby-sitting for villains AGAIN!

"Anyway, there were these alien-broccolis that put all the parents into some weird state, but you'll never have to worry about them because we ate them all," Bubbles assured me. "Us and a bunch of kids ate every single last one of them!"

I couldn't believe this. I shook my head and stared down at my lap. I'd never thought in all of my days here in Townsville that the bad guys only got weirder… and weirder… and weirder… AND WEIRDER!

"There were these old super villains and that cop Mike Brickowski and some weird thing that bit people's heads and sucked out their brains and this lady that hated men and -"

"A weird thing that bites people's heads and sucks out their brains?" I asked, unable to believe what I was hearing.

"Well… yeah," Bubbles said quietly. "But he hasn't really done anything in a while, so it doesn't really matter. Anyway, there was a director who lied to us that he was gonna make a movie about the Power Puff Girls, there was the Professor's old college roommate that tricked us into telling him how to make us so he made a ton of really pitiful ones and made money off of them -"

"Oh," I interrupted. She looked at me curiously. "No, sorry. That just sounded… really bad. That's not good at all."

"It was really bad," Bubbles agreed with a sigh. "He wound up drinking all of the Chemical X, but when his cheap Power Puff X-Tremes fought him back I think they drained all of the Chemical X out of him. We haven't really seen him since."

"That's too bad," I pointed out. "Maybe they killed him. Hopefully."

"Yeah, but it's unlikely," Bubbles doubted it. "A Power Puff Girl wouldn't do something like that, no matter how poorly made she is. There was a gypsy lady, a gnome that granted wishes, and an actor from a silent film… Oh! And then there was Mask Scara, a lady who could give people permanent trashy makeovers.

I made a face. "Wouldn't wanna run into her." Permanent trashy makeover?

"Yes I know," Bubbles agreed. "Oh but Megan, it doesn't end there! Townsville's been through so much! There are so many more villains! So much more trouble! So much more - hey. Megan, are you okay?"

"Huh? Oh yeah," I said. I must have looked as disturbed on the outside as I felt on the inside. I just couldn't believe it. What kind of monster would try to make money creating cheap knockoffs of the Power Puff Girls? Bubbles said the guy probably wasn't dead. He sounded insane, whoever this was. He may have been a psycho, but I wanted to meet him. I wanted to get a chance to tell him what I thought of that terrible decision. He probably wouldn't live to hear the end of it…

The Power Puff Girls were incredible works of art. They were completely original and genuine as any human person. They really deserved to be treated with more respect than that. Honestly. "I just can't believe anyone would do something like that," I told Bubbles.

"Don't worry Megan. No one's seen him in a while."

"What's his name?" I was curious to know.

"It doesn't matter!" Bubbles insisted. "He hasn't been around!"

"Fine, fine, gee whiz, Bubbles," I chuckled. "Just asking."

She smiled. "And I was just answering."

"Okay then," I said smiling back at her. "Great answer, by the way."

*Author's Notes*

So Megan's afraid of HIM. I was afraid of HIM back when I was a little girl, and used to be a fan of the show. I loved "The Power Puff Girls" but I always had nightmares about HIM. I don't know what it was, really. I don't know if it was the creepy sound that was always heard if anyone said his name or if he spoke, or that I knew he must have been inspired by something unspeakable, or if it was because I was confused because back then I'd never seen a guy that wore a skirt before. Even now I find him creepy but at least I can sleep at night… most of the time.

I am aware that there are some grammar mistakes in this chapter, but most of the time it was intended, especially when it was in the dialogue, because it shows you what kind of character is speaking, like Bubbles who is a kindergartener. For the other random grammatical mistakes, I apologize. Most of the time I try to be careful about that kind of thing. It may have seemed a little out of character, making Bubbles super good at math, but it's not that I made her good at math in general, really; I made her good at geometry because it does deal with shapes and Bubbles loves shapes and colors and that sort of thing. Just reading this chapter back, I noticed that Megan's opinion on her body and clothing reminds me of Lena from "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants," somehow.

I'm gonna recommend a song for you guys to listen to. It helped me a lot, and often inspired ideas for "Unstoppable." It's called "Super Girl" by Saving Jane. I was sure to tell you the artist's name because there are so many songs called "Super Girl" and I wanted to make sure I gave you the right one.

I'm going to post the third chapter next week. I like to wait a week before posting. I hope you all enjoyed!


	3. Dying Up There

Dying Up There *Author's Notes At The End Of The Chapter*

Chapter Three

I couldn't believe it. Just because I was a former super heroine and the stepdaughter of the secretary to the mayor didn't mean that I had to make a speech after the mayor was done talking. Sara had helped me write it; she was excited that I would get to speak publicly. She was excited enough for the two of us. It was Friday afternoon, two days after I'd had that long talk with Bubbles. Ever since then I had been unable to get my mind off all of the misfit villains she'd told me about, especially the one that had created cheap knockoffs of the girls themselves.

"You're gonna be fine, Megan," Blossom said, as I tied my hair up in a ponytail. "I don't know why you always have to be so nervous all the time."

"How about you try getting up there and talking to the whole city?" I challenged her, but she grinned.

"We already did, before the mayor got up there," she reminded me.

"Oh well, excuse me," I said, scoffing at her smugness.

"Yeah, it really isn't that difficult, Megan," Buttercup said. "Honestly."

"Just don't look at the audience and pretend you're rehearsing the speech for me, Blossom, and Buttercup again," Bubbles advised, putting a mirror in my face so that I could look at myself in my red jacket and my nice blue jeans.

"Um, that isn't very good advice, I don't think, Bubbles," Blossom said.

"Why not?" Bubbles was curious to know.

"Don't you think that if Megan doesn't look at the audience they're gonna think there's something wrong with her?" Buttercup pointed out, annoyed.

"Nope," Bubbles said frowning. "They'll just think she's nervous. And she is."

"Well we don't want to give them the idea that she's nervous!" Blossom said in outrage. "We want for them to think that she's confident and poised. She isn't an ordinary girl, you know. She's a symbol of the intelligent young woman of Townsville. They've got to think that there's nothing for her to be afraid of!"

"No pressure," I tried to calm myself down.

"Come on Megan, it won't be so bad," Buttercup comforted me. "I mean, if it prepares you any better look out at the crowd the Mayor's speaking to. Go. Peek through the curtains."

And I did so. Yep, all my favorite people from Amanda Lennon to Cody Hall were right up there in the front. This was gonna be a blast.

"I'm jumping for joy," I said sarcastically.

"You see, Megan? There's nothing to worry about," Blossom said. She was still awfully smart for not understanding my sarcasm. "It's just your good fellow citizens of Townsville. And all of Townsville admires you greatly."

"Let's see how greatly they admire me once I get up there and ruin everything," I groaned, my heart beating faster and faster. I couldn't believe it. Every second that passed was a second closer to me having to get up there and speak. I wished that I could have grabbed a giant remote so that I could have slowed down and then paused when I got to the end of the mayor's speech, leaving it there, so I could run away and get far from all responsibility and pressure.

"You're just being pessimistic," Blossom insisted. Okay, so she'd known that I was being sarcastic after all. I was the one that hadn't known what language she was speaking. "Don't you know that a positive attitude always resolves in triumph?"

"Don't you know that a nobody making a speech always resolves in humiliation?" was my fast-paced retort.

"Oh Megan." Blossom didn't sound very happy.

"She, uh, is a great friend of mine and of the city's!" I heard the Mayor tell the citizens, and they all began to applaud. "She is the stepdaughter of my secretary! And she is very talented to have, er, managed to stay in the limelight even though she hasn't fought crime in over a year. Give a big hand for Megan Brody!"

There was loud applause, cheering, and wolf-whistling.

"What am I supposed to do?" I was freaking out.

"Get up there!" Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup demanded.

"Get up where?" I was losing it.

The girls pushed me by my back through the curtains and to the podium.

"Uh… hi," I said nervously, tucking one of my bangs behind my ear as I embarrassedly glanced up at Amanda Lennon, her friends Carol Daley and Rachel Carradine, and Cody Hall and his friends Jonathan Ray and Jordan Michaels. All of them were smirking at me, except not Cody as much. He just looked expressionless.

I decided that what I needed to help me was to see someone I knew and cared about, so I looked a little more until I saw Richard video-taping me standing next to Sara, who was giving me a thumbs-up. I looked a little more and saw Anna and Daniel waving huge posters and wearing shirts with my face on them.

"I'm… as he said, Megan Brody. And I'm here to talk about Townsville," I tried desperately to remember what I'd gone over saying with Sara and the girls. "I personally love Townsville. I mean, it's a great town - er, I mean city. 'Cause it's the City of Townsville… ya know. Anyway, I just wanted to say that I'm so glad we can have the Power Puff Girls here… Because they're always here to save the day…"

Yep, I'd forgotten everything. So I just needed to make stuff up. Amanda and the others were laughing at me. This had got to be the most humiliating thing that had ever happened to me. I knew that this would be a disaster. The mean kids from school had gotten here extra early, probably right when the bell rang after school, so that they could stand in the front row of the audience and laugh at me.

"And that's why I think that you guys should -" I stopped, because the reception on the microphone wasn't sounding too pretty. "Geez Louise," I said quietly, taking a step back from it but still keeping a pretty tight grip on the two edges of the podium. "Anyway, that's, again, that's why ya'all shouldn't be so interested in me anymore. The Power Puff Girls are the ones who've always saved the day here - I mean… not to accuse you of not praising the Power Puff Girls, because I know you have; just saying that ever since I stepped into the limelight you've been splitting the praise between me and them. And I think that you should just offer all the praise you've been praising on me to them. All of it. I don't need it. Oh no, not to say that I'm not grateful. Because I am. I'm very grateful. My father was very poor before I got all of that fame - oh crap."

I lowered my voice. "I don't really think I should tell them that."

I looked out into the audience and saw Richard lower the video camera.

"Sorry," I laughed not because it was funny, but because I was nervous and embarrassed. "I really shouldn't have said that. It's really no one's business. And my dad wasn't poor. He's just doing better now - crap."

Amanda, Carol, Rachel, Jonathan, and Jordan were cracking up. Cody was making a scowl at me like he was saying 'What the hell is your problem?'

"Um…" I wanted to go hide under my sofa and never come out of hiding again. I was failing everybody. I was failing my parents, my city, Sara, and the girls. I wasn't supposed to be talking about how my life had changed with my success. This whole time I was supposed to be talking about how proud we should all be of Townsville and how the Mayor should live forever and about how he was planning on correcting our stock market issues. Did this all just slip my mind or something?

"Uh, well, what do you think of our mayor, huh?" I just remembered. "Isn't he a great guy? After all, he's been running Townsville for a pretty long time, right? I'm just glad he's still alive. Isn't that amazing? Oops."

Amanda was leaning her head on Jonathan's shoulder. She was in hysterics.

"I'm still a young man," I heard the mayor say to a bodyguard behind me.

"Well…" I was racking my brain, searching for anything I could say to resolve every pitiful thing I'd just said. The whole city was talking to each other, giving me random dirty looks or expressions of surprise or shock. "You know what?" I took a deep breath in, looked down at the podium and away from the audience, and felt a tear fall down my cheek. "Now I know at this point that it's better that you all forget about me. I don't think it's possible, but I hope that… that after an hour or two, you'll all forget that I even got up there -"

"THEY'LL FORGET ONCE YOU HAVE BEEN DECEASED FOR TWO YEARS!" shouted a familiar Japanese voice. Everyone gasped, turned around, and looked up. They all screamed. Mojo JoJo, the monkey who I hadn't seen in a while, was up on top of a building right behind them! He had these lasers in his hands, which he started shooting at innocent people! Everyone started to run.

I ducked behind the podium and panicked. The mayor screamed and jumped on his bodyguard, who ran him behind the curtains of the stage so that Mojo wouldn't see him. The Power Puff Girls emerged from the curtains and stood there on the stage. Blossom raised an arm in his direction as he continued shooting.

"NOT SO FAST!" she demanded.

"MOJO!" Buttercup added.

"JOJO!" Bubbles completed.

"AH, IF IT IS NOT THE POWER PUFF GIRLS!" Mojo said with an amused look on his face. He was raising his voice to be heard over all the screaming coming from the citizens who were now being chased by Fuzzy Lumpkins pointing his shotgun. The Amoeba Boys were over in the grass, watching the distressed people with what they thought were evil smirks on their faces. I was watching all that was happening from behind the podium. "ISN'T THIS A PLEASANT SURPRISE?"

"Surprise, maybe," Blossom admitted. "BUT NOT SO PLEASANT!"

"GOOD! I did not mean for it to be, which also means that that is not what I have intended!" Mojo explained. "Believe it or not, Power Puff Blossom, you and your sisters are not who we've come for."

I gasped. I looked back at the curtains frantically, wondering how I was going to get behind there without being seen by Mojo, Fuzzy, or the Amoebas. They were all waiting for me, and Mojo probably already knew where I was anyway because he'd seen me duck behind the podium. Some heroine I was. Why did I have to be perceived as a heroine? I HADN'T FOUGHT CRIME IN OVER A YEAR!

"Well, fortunately for us, we're never going to find out who you're here for because you're not going to get to them!" Blossom snapped back at Mojo. Oh Blossom, you know he's here for me, I thought to myself. And I knew she did. She was just trying to pretend she didn't, so Mojo wouldn't think that I was scared of him or that I'd told Blossom that I was expecting he'd tried to dispose of me one day. But I wasn't scared of Mojo, right? After all, he was just a chimpanzee…

"Where's Megan?" Fuzzy hollered at several people after shooting his shotgun at the air several times. "Where's she?"

I didn't want to continue crying, but I really didn't want to have to deal with Fuzzy Lumpkins right now! Not after all of the other horrible stuff that had just happened to me. I would almost be willing to take the Amoeba Boys. Hey, I knew they weren't gonna do anything. Maybe they would say something, but I could handle words. After all, I'd been handling words for a long time now.

I returned my attention to Mojo and the girls now. Mojo was continuing to shoot his lasers at them as they circled around him, each trying to distract him from the other two girls. Professor Utonium was calling for them to stop and to save themselves, but they wouldn't listen. Suddenly Mojo hit Bubbles! She went freefalling from the sky and slammed down into the cemented road.

"BUBBLES!" I screamed, and I came out of my hiding spot. I didn't care what happened to me then. I ran over to the end of the stage and saw Bubbles slowly lift her head and rub it, looking as though she was in a lot of pain. The Professor ran over toward her to make sure she was alright. He was about to help her up, and Blossom and Buttercup were about to come down to see the damage Mojo had done to her, as Mojo lowered toward them, his lasers ready.

"…No…" I said faintly, and that was when something terrible happened.

It was as if the whole world had turned into a furnace. Fire spurt out from the ground everywhere though no one was harmed or burned by it! Everyone was just so spellbound that they stood completely still, waiting to see what was going to happen enough. There was a gust of wind, and the fire was revealed to have been an illusion. There'd really been no fire. It was just something that its owner had created to make a dramatic entrance with. He'd definitely wanted an audience; there was no doubt about it. And now he had it. Mojo looked jealous. He'd thought his entrance was neat, but he knew that it had been nothing compared to this one…

"HellOO, everybody!" greeted the high-pitched voice of the evil HIM, suddenly appearing to my right at the front of the stage. He'd upgraded his wardrobe since last I'd seen him. Today he was wearing a sassy and glittery fur jacket, a new and improved pair of high-heeled stiletto boots, and a skirt so short that half his ass and something even more provocative were practically hanging out.

When he was absolutely certain that he had everyone's attention (believe me, he did), he turned to me with a smirk and took a few steps toward me. I closed my eyes, waiting for the pain when he lifted one of his big old lobster claws. I'd almost forgotten he had those. I was able to open my eyes and relax after I realized that all he'd done was take the microphone out of my hand that I'd been holding onto.

"Thank you," he said, standing awfully close to me. I fearfully took a step back. What? It made me feel very uncomfortable to have him standing there in such a skimpy outfit. I continued taking a few steps back as he took a few forward toward the front of the stage. He lifted the microphone toward his lips. Oh my goodness, did he really think he needed a microphone? His voice echoed enough across the whole city without one. I winced, waiting for the noise.

"City of Townsville," he said, his voice sounding even scarier with the microphone. "Seems to me that there's been a bit of a stir here on this fine day." He waved his arm for dramatic effect. "And it wasn't all caused by Fuzzy, the Amoebas, or Mojo." He turned around to look at me and gave me a wink.

I stood back as far as I could against the curtains without going completely behind them, my stomach churning, unsettled. I couldn't just go behind those curtains. If he decided to follow me there, I might have never been seen again. My chest heaved in and out as the rest of me remained still as a statue. I couldn't make any sudden moves. I was too afraid to, even if I knew that HIM was in no way, shape, or form going to act unprofessionally in front of a crowd.

"Shouldn't you all feel ashamed?" the terrible menace asked everyone. "I mean, after all you've done to the poor girl." I panicked inside as his high-heeled stiletto boots turned in my direction and came toward me. I wanted to run away, but I didn't want to look afraid. HIM lifted a giant lobster claw and set it on my shoulder. I wanted to scream. I wanted so badly to get it the hell off my shoulder, but I knew that if I did I would upset him. And with one snap of that claw, I would surely be decapitated. So I figured I'd better not try to make him angry if I wanted to keep my head on my shoulders, literally speaking. I didn't want the fear in my eyes to look obvious, even though I knew he could probably see it.

Hey, it wasn't like anyone could blame me. There wasn't one person who wasn't afraid of HIM. Why did you think everyone was standing so still, without blinking? Not even the Power Puff Girls were moving a muscle, though Bubbles really couldn't because of her injuries. HIM wasn't brilliant like Mojo was, but he really was the best villain because just the mention of his name struck fear into the hearts of everyone known to mankind. It didn't make me feel so comfortable that now he was standing right next to me so that his hip was touching mine and he'd now reached his claw up and began playing with my ponytail.

"What have you done to the poor girl, you might ask? Well, you've not left her alone, first of all. Can you not see how much she hated the fact that you all kept placing her in the limelight because it made her more… unforgettable to me and the other villains? Can you not see that she was never mature enough to handle all the attention? Can you not see that considering a girl with… well, no super powers a super heroine is really like throwing a child into a war and calling them a soldier. It's like taking a homely woman and calling her a super model. Not that I'm referring to you by saying that, sweet pea," he said not to the microphone, giving me a startling pat on the back and then finally walking away from me.

He made his way back over to the front of the stage and said, "And by placing a girl who is completely incapable of saying two words to the people of her city up here at a podium is a horrible crime, worthy of high treason. You should all have been aware that… you've picked the wrong girl to pick on. Megan Brody here is no hero. She is completely unable to carry out one fight without having all the energy zapped out of her, breaking a bone or two…"

He looked over his shoulder at me and grinned wickedly. "Or even catching a little cold." He turned around again to face the audience again and continued, as I stood there fuming. I wanted to scream at him for everything that he was saying. He was just standing there, putting me down over and over again. But I knew it was wise not to argue with him, so I let him do it. I let him continue.

"All I'm saying is, this city is filled with intelligent minds (even if its mayor is a sap). So why don't you put your heads together and think of someone else?"

"GET OUT OF HERE, HIM!" Blossom called as loudly as she could. My heart skipped a beat. I'd forgotten that Blossom had been able to stand up to HIM before. I'd forgotten that it was natural for her to be talking this way to criminals. I had almost been worried for a moment there that I would lose my sister. "YOU'RE NOT PROVING ANY POINT, AND I DON'T THINK YOU'RE GOING TO. YOU SHOULD LEAVE WHILE YOU STILL CAN. STOP PUTTING RIDICULOUS LIES INTO THE HEADS OF TOWNSVILLE'S CITIZENS. MEGAN IS COMPLETELY CAPABLE OF DOING ANYTHING SHE'S EVER BEEN THROWN INTO, AND YOU KNOW THAT."

HIM smiled calmly to himself and said, "You silly girl. I'm not telling lies. I'm telling the painful truth that you never had the heart to tell yourself. If you want to keep trying to make Meggy here live a lie, then be my guest. By all means. But I'm willing to help her see things as they really are. You call yourself her friend? You're just rusting fuel, feeding a dying flame. If you don't quit then she's going to die out completely, and then you'll only have yourself to blame."

"YOUR WORDS ARE NOTHING BUT CRUEL POISON, HIM!" Blossom insisted. "IF YOU'RE NOT GOING TO LEAVE WILLINGLY, THEN BUTTERCUP AND I ARE GOING TO HAVE TO ESCORT YOU OUT THE HARD WAY."

I was amazed that Blossom and Buttercup were that brave to stand up to HIM this way. The two of them were ready to take him on. It made me sad that Bubbles could not help them. Especially because she looked like her head didn't hurt anymore. She was feeling fine, physically. It made me sad that HIM scared her so bad, the way he scared me. I'd been told all the stories of him messing with her several times, and I could see why she wanted to keep her distance.

"Um… girls…" HIM said to the two of them, no longer speaking into the microphone. "Go back to your daddy over there. You are not to interrupt my performance -"

"You interrupted Megan's performance!" Buttercup pointed out.

"Yeah!" Blossom agreed. "Talk about scene-stealing."

"Don't be so silly, girls," HIM said frowning. "I was just giving her a little help. After all, she was dying up there."

Mojo, Fuzzy, and the Amoebas were disappointedly leaving at this point.

"She wasn't dying," Blossom disagreed. "She was - she was…"

"Melting down!" HIM said, the wicked grin returning to his face. "Adolescent apprehension. Oh, I just love it! I've been seeing it for centuries. Oh…. You girls are so rude. But, unlike you, I know how to play by the rules. You're basically booing me off the stage, so I'll take what I got. But I won't let'cha get me down. I never repeat a performance, so when I return for my next act it will be on a bigger, hotter stage. Oh, you girls serve perfectly as haters. Nobody's a somebody without haters."

Before Blossom and Buttercup could hurt him, he turned around and walked back over to me. He stood uncomfortably close to me again, with his claw on my shoulder once more. I was going to be brave and just stand there, but I couldn't take it anymore when his face was so close to mine that he was about to whisper something in my ear. He opened his mouth and I took a step back. He paused, laughed good-naturedly for a moment, grabbed me harder by my shoulder and pulled me to where I'd been standing a moment ago again. My heart was beating loudly. That was what you got when you upset HIM. You got to feel his wrath.

"The next time you feel worthless, feel free to stop by my place," he said in my ear, sending unpleasant shivers down my back. "I'm sure I'll be able to… relieve your insecurities -"

I couldn't help it. I yanked free from him again, took a step back, and glared strongly into his eyes. And then he had such a sinister look on his face that I knew I was done for. But he spared me. He scowled malevolently, took a step back without saying anything, and then disappeared in a pink cloud with a poof! The smoke coming from the cloud made me cough.

I didn't know what to do now. Here I was, and there was all of Townsville. I'd ruined everything today. All I'd had to do was make one speech, one lousy little speech. Was that really something too hard for me to do? Was I really, completely incapable of making a little speech?

"Megan, let's get out of here," Professor Utonium said in a cool, but unsettled tone. Bubbles was by his side. He grabbed my arm gently and pulled me quickly away from the crowd. The girls followed us. We headed back to their house for me to relax. After all, I'd had a hard day. A really hard day. Everything had gotten worse and worse until it reached its boiling point of horribleness. The reputation I'd made for myself over the last year had been destroyed today. Everything I'd worked for. Now that I'd lost my fame, I wanted it all back.

"Just sit here, Megan," the Professor said about an hour later, referring to the couch. He and the girls had been discussing things for fifty minutes. "The girls and I are just gonna go grocery shopping. Stay here, and don't watch the news."

"Don't watch the news?" I repeated. Oh no, that didn't sound too good.

"Bye Megan," the girls said quickly, and then the four of them were gone.

Ten minutes had gone by, but the temptation to turn on the news and see what the hell they were talking about became too unbearable. I grabbed the remote, my heart racing, and flipped to the news. There was a recap playing of me giving my horrible speech, and then the screen split in two to show me ducking behind the podium to avoid being seen by Mojo, Fuzzy, and the Amoeba Boys. The screen then split into three, and was now showing HIM strutting around on the stage in the third box. Finally a fourth box was shown, showing Craig the news reporter. He had been speaking about everything. I turned up the volume to hear what he was saying.

"Megan Carlson-Brody, Townsville's Sweetheart, slipped up big time today during her speech at the mayor's podium (HUGE emphasis on the word 'big' ). The fifteen-year-old started off by deliberately making a fool out of herself, implying insult to the Power Puff Girls, sneakily stating that she herself got more respect and was more enjoyed by the public than they were. She went on by giving Townsville the big hint that she didn't want to be looked up to as a role model anymore by asking for the citizens specifically to stop following her. Then, if that hadn't been enough to get the citizens riled up, she talked about how her father had been very un-wealthy before her success. Bet Daddy's real happy about that, huh? Ha. And then to make herself even more charming, she made fun of the Mayor's age."

I started crying again and shook my head. "None of that was intentional," I whined pitifully. "None of it; it was improvisation. I just slipped up…"

"But our precious little Meggy Brody figured that all that wouldn't be enough to get her fans off her back, so she had to go and make a deal with Mojo JoJo, popular city villain, and a few friends Fuzzy Lumpkins and Bossman, Junior, and Slim (the Amoeba Boys) to crash the speech. That had been Back-Up A for if her terrible speech didn't work. But she also had a Back-Up Plan B for if Mojo, Fuzzy, and the Amoebas weren't persuasive enough."

"Oh no…" I moaned when there was a recap of HIM winking back at me.

"Sneaky little Meggy - hmm. Bet ya'all were wondering where that came from. Meggy. Sounds to me like - ha. Meggy and HIM, the evilest of the evil, have a few inside secrets. A nickname! Everything's so clear now. All of this and then that robbery the Gangreen Gang committed. The Gangreen Gang hadn't been messing around for the longest time, and then they suddenly decided to go and get themselves arrested. I'm beginning to think that's for a certain reason. Ace, the leader of the Gangreen Gang, and ex-stalker of Meggy may have heard some kind of rumor that the object of his affection - I wouldn't really say affection. I would say… maybe hormonal fantasies. Maybe this object of his, as I said, hormonal fantasies, was said to be plotting against Townsville alongside HIM, the most terrible menace in all of Townsville…."

"OH MY…" I said in a loud tone of voice, clapping my hand to my mouth.

"Ace may have decided to stop trying to be good for her after he heard that she was willing to work with the bad guys (and this is just a hunch, mind you, but a very strong one). And so he either got back into the crime-swing to try to impress the girl or to get himself in trouble because he was feeling depressed or suicidal. Oh ho ho! I'm liking the sound of this! Well, wouldn't that be gross?"

They played a recap of HIM playing with my ponytail. I wanted to die.

"This HIM guy is pure evil, absolute evil, rather confused in his apparel, and said personally to be centuries old. To think that the creature is having some behind-the-scenes action fifteen-year-old maturing Megan Brody is just absolutely scandalous. I mean, really - OH! Wait a second. I've got a theory! I've got a theory. Here's what it is…"

"I can't believe it…" I said through heavy sighs, while shaking my head in outrage. There was the recap of HIM whispering like a creeper in my ear. They didn't even play back my reaction where I angrily took a step back from him! "He's just making things up as he goes along…" I insisted, referring to Craig.

"Megan blatantly stated that she doesn't want Townsville to praise her anymore because she doesn't want to have to carry the weight of being a role model on her shoulders any longer. She wants to work with villains! She doesn't care; she wants to continue to see bad guys, and she doesn't want to have to be held responsible for all the little girls out there that want to be like her -"

I grabbed the remote and turned it off. I just sat there for a few minutes, sobbing. It made me so angry to think that this random news reporter who knew absolutely nothing about my life thought he had the right to create rumors about me right up there on the spot, but somehow managing to get people to believe everything he said just because he was a news reporter.

For the first couple minutes I just thought about how angry I was at him for starting rumors about me, but after that I actually stopped to think about what the rumor was. HIM. The gestures, the touching, the winking, the offer, UGH! The fact that - ew! I shuddered. I cringed at the thought of going near him after all of this! It was almost as if I hadn't cringed enough at the thought of going near him before all this. There was only one thing left for me to do.

I got right off of that couch and headed toward the door. I needed to go over to my house and grab my Bible. I was in a hurry. I was gonna need to keep that Book very close to me at all times if I was gonna try to keep HIM away. I grabbed the doorknob and walked outside. I was mortified to see several newspaper reporters and photographers taking pictures of me and hear them shouting at me.

I screamed (I don't think I'd ever screamed so much before today), covered my face with my hand, and ran over to my house as fast as I could. Some of the reporters were so crazy that they grabbed me! I yanked myself free from them.

I'd never been so happy to arrive at my front door before. I unlocked it, hoping that Richard and Sara wouldn't be home so I could just get in and out, ran across the house to my bedroom, grabbed my Bible, and ran back to the front door so that I could get back to the Utoniums' house. Hopefully the reporters would still bother me on my way there, because then they would surely see the Bible I was holding. They would surely know that the rumors Craig told were not true.

But when I got outside, the reporters were nowhere to find - except one.

"Good! Thank goodness you're here!" I told him. "Look!" I showed him.

He blinked once or twice at the Bible I was holding. I took a moment to observe how he looked so that I would be able to recognize him if he ever came back to me and told me that everything was resolved. He was a man maybe in his early thirties - or maybe in his late twenties. He had long brown hair tied in a ponytail, a blue pair of sunglasses, a brown hat, and a matching brown shirt and pair of shorts.

"Wow," he said, not even attempting to record it with his camera.

"Well, why aren't you recording it?" I wanted to know.

"I was actually hoping I could record an interview with you," he explained, smiling politely. "Hi. My name is Brian Larsen."

"An interview for the news?" I repeated. "Thank goodness! That's great. Let's do it now so that you can get it on the news by tomorrow, and everyone will know that all of those crazy lies are just not true."

"Wait, you've gotta understand this," he interrupted me as I started off to set up for the interview at the Utoniums' house. "I'm not an anchorman - or at least, not yet am I. I'm a movie-maker. I'm make documentaries. I wanted to make one about you, but all I've gotten so far are facts about you and some old videos and pictures from your parents. I've gotten interviews though. I've gotten interviews from the Power Puffs, the Mayor, the citizens, and your enemies -"

Kinda creepy. This guy had been getting information on me without my permission, but when he mentioned getting interviews about me from the villains, I said "Can I see the interviews? Please. I need to know what my enemies said."

Brian looked a little taken aback. "Well, sure, eventually -"

"Wait, what do you mean 'eventually'?" I demanded to know.

"Well, I wanted to get this interview done first!" Brian insisted.

"Hey," I said with a frown. "I don't know anything about you, or this project. You seem to have been working on it for a while without having gotten my permission. I don't want to tell you about myself until I know what these other people have said about me -"

"But that's the whole point of it!" Brian explained. "If I let you watch the other interviews you'll be influenced by them. I don't want you to be influenced by any of the other interviewers. I want you to tell me about yourself. You. I don't want for you to think these other people know how to define who you are."

"Wow," I said, impressed. "So you're a professional?"

"No - well, hopefully," Brian sighed. "Hopefully, soon enough. I try to get these things on TV, but no one's really liked them enough to put them on yet. I think yours is pretty good. Maybe they'll put it - hey, where are you going?"

I had stomped away from him, and was heading back to the Utoniums'. He caught up with me. "Wait a minute; don't you want to do the interview?"

"I never bargained to have all of my private information and life-story put on television," I said angrily. "I just want today to go away."

"Why are you so angry?" he asked when he caught up with me.

"Why am I so angry?" I repeated with a scoff, folding my arms across my chest, holding my Bible tight. "You're really asking me that? Have you heard anything that happened today? I messed up my speech and the news is saying that I did it intentionally. Mojo and some other villains attacked and the news is saying that I'd planned that out ahead of time with them. Then HIM had to crash and the news is saying that he and I are... up to something secret. That's why I'm holding this Bible, to keep him away from me so he won't get any ideas."

I turned away again, and Brian grabbed me by the arm. "Wait! Please! I don't blame you. It sounds like you've had a really tough day, and you have every right to be upset. I knew that you had a side to the story, and I'm glad I've just got to hear it. But your only chance to let everyone hear it is this interview."

I took a moment to think about it and I knew he was right. This documentary was my only chance to let everyone hear me. Me. Ever since I'd been dragged into the limelight and been put on the news, people hadn't been looking into the facts. They'd been making up stories based on who they thought I was. They'd never cared to hear my side of the story. Maybe this documentary would give them the information they'd never cared to figure out before, and it would also give me the chance to see what everyone really thought about me.

"The Utoniums are out grocery shopping," I said. "Let's go."

He smiled and said thank you when I held their front door open for him. He told me to sit down on the couch and then he set up the camera so that I could talk. I sat forward on the couch, holding the Bible close to my chest. I didn't even have to say anything about it. Just it being there would prove to people that what they'd thought about HIM and me was B.S.

"Megan Carlson-Brody," Brian said after he'd started recording. "Today's been really hard for you. Can you please tell us exactly what had happened in your own words? Pretend you never heard the rumors. Don't let anything that anyone else said influence you. Just tell us what really happened."

"Okay," I said, taking a deep breath. I chuckled after a moment of not having said anything. I looked up and said, "I'm just as camera-shy as I am stage-shy."

Brian chuckled patiently, and waited for me to explain today.

"Well…" I said, taking a moment to think over everything that happened today, and everything that led up to today. "My stepmother Sara, the Mayor's secretary, told me about Proud Of Townsville Day and about how the girls would be making a speech and about how the Mayor was going to make a speech. I told Sara I could write it, but she offered to help me, so she did. It was a good speech. It was about Townsville and the mayor and about money and such. I'd practiced it for Sara and Richard. And I'd rehearsed it for Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup of course. But I guessed since it was only written yesterday I hadn't had enough time to rehearse. Anyway, we got there to the place and I freaked out because I saw some kids that don't like me from school at the front of the audience."

"Is that why you forgot what you were supposed to say?" Brian asked.

"Yeah, I think that's part of the reason," I replied. "But it didn't really help that I saw my parents in the audience, looking so proud of me like they expected me to make this perfect speech. It was just too much pressure on me, and so I messed up. Suddenly Mojo, Fuzzy, and the Amoeba Boys decided to crash and they were after me. I don't know why really, but I hid from them. I hadn't fought crime in over a year, and the last time I'd done so I didn't wind up too good. Everyone wants me to be this Wonder Woman and I just can't be. Anyway, then HIM showed up out of nowhere and, I guess he decided to take the spotlight from Mojo. I think he… I think he was also after something else, but I don't really wanna talk about it…"

"You know that for a fact?" Brian asked curiously. "Has he ever told you what it was?"

"Well yeah, but it wasn't till after that big speech he made," I pointed out. "It may have had to do with something that happened the other night. I sort of - …insulted him, and I believe I heard him laughing at me -"

"This happened at night?" Brian asked, looking a little afraid.

"Well yeah, but he wasn't there with me!" I gasped in horror.

Let's not get the wrong image here…

I continued, "No, he wasn't anywhere near me or in my house or anything. But you know, he watches everything. And I was doing something - kinda personal, and I knew he was watching so I insulted him. And then I talked to Bubbles about some things, and I'm thinking that maybe he came today to mess with me."

"And about this Ace guy… have you contacted him?" he asked.

"No," I said, shaking my head. "I don't even know that guy anymore."

"Okay, well thank you, Megan," Brian said, stopping the tape. He smiled and walked off toward the door with his camera. "That was great. That'll go in the video-portion of the documentary focused on this day. I'll get a few more interviews regarding today and then I may want to interview you about some other issues."

"Thank you," I told him. "I can't wait till people see it and get the story straight."

"Yeah," he said. Before he walked out the door, he looked over his shoulder and said, "Hey, do you still want to see some of the other interviews sometime?"

"Oh, I would love to," I assured him.

"Do you have a thick skin?" he wanted to make sure.

"… I guess…" I said unsurely.

"Well, you're gonna need one," he sighed. "Wait, here's my number."

He pulled something out of his pants pocket that looked like a business card, walked back over and handed it to me. "Whenever you feel like seeing the interviews, just give me a call. And come to my studio."

"Thank you so much," I said, reading the number on it. "Bye."

"Bye," he said smiling one more time, and then he left the house.

So I was gonna need a thick skin? Why? What kind of things did people say about me?

*Author's Note*

Wow, I've had this chapter ready to post for over a month, but I haven't done so because I always want to edit these things just right and I wasn't going to post it until I got all my editing done, which it's taken me a while to figure out what I should do to fix it, if that makes any sense. But after this I've only written the next chapter, and after that I haven't, so I'll need to get on that soon. There may be a bit of a break in between every time I update it, but I promise I'll try not to let you guys wait as long as you did for this chapter. Ugh, HIM still gives me the creeps after all these years. So manipulative, ew. By the way, Brian Larsen is not an OC of mine. He was in an actual episode of "The Power Puff Girls;" I think it was called "Documentary?" Most likely.


	4. UnStereotypical

Un-Stereotypical

Chapter Four *Author's Notes At The End Of Chapter*

Well school was horrible on Monday. All day people would stare at me and give me dirty looks. During seventh period, a guy passed me a note with a picture he drew of HIM sticking his ass up in the air. I glared at him, tore it up, and threw it down on the ground, just fortunate that the teacher hadn't seen me do this. The last bell sounded like music to my ears.

I got down to the bottom of the stairs and walked as fast as I could off into the direction of my neighborhood. Soon enough the crowd behind me had almost vanished, but there was one person that seemed to be following me. Ugh, what did they want? I didn't want to be bothered right now. They were gonna get it….

I turned around and then saw Ace. That terrible Gangreen Gang leader. He looked older. Well he definitely needed to shave, that was for sure. He was wearing a big black coat and tight pants. His hands were in his pockets, and a cigarette was in his mouth. His eyes were once again covered by a dark pair of sunglasses. His greasy black hair looked as though it hadn't been washed in a week or so.

"What do you want?" I spat at him. He looked a bit surprised by my reaction.

"Hey, hey, now," he said after reaching up for his cigarette with a fingerless-gloved hand. He took it out of his mouth and blew a puff of smoke not too far away from my face. I coughed once. "Aren't'cha surprised to see me?"

"Yes I am," I said through gritted teeth. I wasn't in the mood to deal with Ace in one of his 'charming' moods right now. "But that doesn't mean I'm happy to see you, or that I'm glad to see you."

"Hey why not?" he asked, beginning to follow me after I turned away and started off again. "You haven't seen me in a year anyways."

"Yeah. I was lucky. Till now," I said without regretting one word.

"Hey, hey, hey!" he said suddenly grabbing my arm roughly and squeezing it. I turned around to glare at him. "Don't you talk to me like that. Hey, I thought we used to have somethin' together. What happened?"

"I grew up, and opened my eyes," I retorted, yanking my arm out of his grip.

I turned around and started off again.

"See, I knew it would end up like this," I heard him say quietly. Then he raised his voice, and said, "I liked you when you were younger, you know. Susceptible… defenseless… gullible… stupid… desperate… hormonal."

Okay, that did it. Before he could say another word, I'd smacked him as hard as I possibly could. He didn't fall down or anything. He was still standing, but he was wiping the blood off of his face with his gloved hand. "Damn, your hits keep gettin' harder and harder too," he observed.

"I can hit you harder if that wasn't hard enough," I promised him.

He grinned. "That a threat or a promise?"

I remember he'd said that first night I'd met him at Richard's anger management workshop. I scoffed. "Don't give me that."

"Give ya what?" he wanted to know. "You never let me give you anything."

"Yeah, and it's staying that way. So don't get your hopes up," I said bitterly, trying once again to get home.

"Tell me what changed, okay, Meggy?" he said, enraging me. How everyone dared to use that nickname! "Was it that guy? That real bad guy?"

How dare he. He knew how much I hated HIM. I was proven this when I turned around and saw the wicked smirk on his face. He was making fun of me. If he'd thought that I would actually be associated with that - ugh! –

"Hardly," I said without the smallest trace of humor in my voice. "You don't even know the half of what happened on Friday. You don't have the right to be -"

He lifted a hand and nodded his head. "Oh I know. I know."

"I hate your stinking guts," I said angrily.

"I know," he assured me.

"Listen," I said. "The reason I hate you is because I'm different than most girls. I'm not some dumb loser that falls for any random guy, especially not jerks like you. I may have been that way before, but not anymore. I'm not your stereotypical, goggly-eyed -"

"Goggly-eyed?" he repeated with a laugh. "Goggly-eyed?"

"Yes…" I said, raising an eyebrow at him.

"What the heck is that?" he cackled. "What is that? Goggly-eyed?"

"It means someone that thinks everyone they see is attractive," I explained.

"It ain't a word," he said, shaking his head.

"What do you mean 'it ain't a word'? Ain't isn't a word!" I pointed out.

"At least you can find 'ain't' in the dictionary," Ace retorted.

"So I made up a word. So what? Why does it matter so much to you?" I wanted to know. "And since when was vocabulary important to you?"

"Vocabulary's very important to me," he joked. "I think I might go to be an English Professor at a college somewhere in the future. Do you think my crime-record will make a good résumé?"

I couldn't help but smile. Then I remembered something. "You're not in jail."

"Yeah… took ya long enough to notice," he said, looking down.

"You broke out," I said.

"No…" he said quietly.

"Someone bailed you out," I tried again.

"Yeah," he said, looking up again.

"Who?" I was curious to know.

"Uh…" He scratched himself on the back of his neck nervously and avoided my gaze. He chuckled embarrassedly.

"Oh come on, Ace," I said in annoyance. "Just spit it out already. Who bailed you out? Tell me."

"Um," Ace laughed again. He looked up at me. "A girl…"

I frowned. "Of course."

"Hey Megan, listen, I didn't even know the girl, okay?" he said. "She came over to the jail and said that she'd gotten my phone call. I didn't make no phone call. I didn't even know who the heck the chick thought she was. She told the cop she knew me and I went along with her story. I wanted to get out of jail, didn't I?"

"What was her name?" I was curious to know.

"She didn't tell me her name," Ace responded.

"How old did you think she was?" I continued to bug him.

"Gee, I don't know. Maybe your age," he said.

I thought about that for a moment or two. "When did she get you out?"

"Yesterday afternoon," he replied.

"What kind of girl would want to bail _you_ out of jail?" I said aloud, to no one in particular.

"You used to be that girl…" Ace reminded me, staring hard.

"Why did you even steal from the candy store?" I demanded to know, frowning seriously at him. "I thought you were done with crime."

"Well…" he began, looking slightly uncomfortable. "I kinda figured that the only reason why I'd stopped getting involved in crime-activity in the first place was because I had someone to be a good person for. Then we sorta stopped seeing each other, and I realized I had nothing holding me back anymore."

"I moved on. We grew apart," I told him. "I was too young to have liked you back when I thought I liked you, and a few months later I knew I didn't."

Ace looked kind of sad to hear this. "Well I wasn't too young. You really led me on, Megan."

"You're too immature to understand," I scoffed. "I don't want you. I'm - I mean - I was Townsville's Sweetheart, representing for all the good girls in Townsville and you were hurting my image."

"Megan, was it your image or was it me?" Ace demanded to know.

"It was both," I explained, pulling my hair back and crossing my arms. "I mean, I was stupid to have made you thought I cared about you in the first place. You did a lot of bad things to me. You harassed me and played with my mind….. Look. You're not my type. I don't even have a type really. I know that there's a part of me that wants a boyfriend, but there's also a part of me that wants nothing. That part of me just wants to be five-years-old again, and… and… I just wish that the only guys I had to worry about liking were fairytale kings and… princes again. I don't want any kind of responsibility. I don't want to have to make any choices. That's why I've been screwing up so much lately. You would just make things worse. I just know that if I were to choose a guy for myself right now, it wouldn't be you. You're not good for me. You're the worst possible guy I could pick."

"Think of all we've gone through together!" he insisted.

"Ace, if there's some random teenage girl my age who you don't even know that cared enough about you to bail you out of jail, then that's just the beginning of all the girls you're gonna meet that are somehow attracted to you," I assured him. "You're a bad guy. And let's face it: good girls want bad guys. But I'm not gonna be so willing. Not anymore. I'm not like those girls."

"So you're saying you're not a good girl?" Ace asked after I'd turned around to walk away again. I stopped dead in my tracks, and turned around to look at him again. He was giving me a confused look like he was trying to figure me out.

I shook my head. "I'm saying I'm not a stupid girl."

And with that, I was off. I didn't stop again after that. He called my name a couple times, probably thinking that I would come back to listen to whatever he had to say, but I ignored him. I listened as he cursed to himself and kicked the fence. Now he knew I wasn't kidding when I said I wasn't a stupid girl.

As I walked away I thought about the last thing he'd said to me. He wanted to clarify whether or not I was a good girl or a bad girl. Now I could see from what everyone had been saying about me lately that he could think of me as being a bad girl, but I was not a bad girl. I was a very good girl. Just not a stupid one, like I said.

I was sick of people thinking they had the right to judge me, and decide whether or not I was a good girl or a bad girl. They weren't me. I was me. Only I knew who I was. Why didn't anybody ever cut me some slack? I wasn't some goddess. I was a human-being. Just because I'd been considered a role-model for a period of time did not mean that every move I made had to be analyzed or put under a microscope or radar to examine. People had no right to try to figure me out. I was still having a difficult time trying to figure out who I was myself!

After an hour or two, I sat down on my couch. Since I was home alone all by myself, I held my pillow tight to my chest so that anyone who was watching me didn't have to stare at it. I was wearing a cropped black tank-top and a pair of dark skinny jeans. I figured that when I wasn't out in public I didn't have to wear something that hid my figure completely. But with this… new theory about HIM and all, I was always sure not to flaunt it. My Bible was sitting on the coffee table.

There was nothing on television. The girls were out fighting crime in the city. I thought of all the things I could do. I could go to the Smith's house and baby-sit Julie if Maryanne wanted me to. That way I could try to find out about the completely average family's villainous tendencies, by searching for clues around their house. But would Maryanne even want me in her house anymore with all of this bad publicity that I was getting? I could go find the Talking Dog and have a conversation with him. He may not have been cool with my bad reputation either.

I was bored and had nothing to do, so I decided to give Brian a call.

I wanted to see the interviews, didn't I? I dialed his number and waited.

"Hello?" his voice said on the other end of the phone. "This is Brian Larsen."

"Hey Brian, this is Megan," I told him.

"Megan hi, what's up?" he was curious to know.

"I was sort of just wondering if you would mind bringing the interviews over right now," I said. "I'd like to watch them. I'm bored and have nothing else to do."

"Yeah," he said. "Sure, I'll be over as soon as I can be."

"Thanks. Bye," I said and I hung up. Okay, I couldn't believe I was doing this. Brian had said I needed a thick skin to handle this. Did I want to see these…..?

He was able to get to the house in twenty minutes. He had all his tapes and everything. "Okay," he said, standing in front of the TV holding three of them. "Who do you want to start with? Friends… family… or foes?"

I was extremely nervous about the foes. "Um… family?" I decided. I guess.

"Family it is," he said, putting one of the tapes in the VCR. The first interview started with a close-up of Anna, wearing a brown leather jacket and khaki pants. She had a smile on her face; Anna all her life had been a cold person, so her smile must have been for self-benefit (to make herself look likable on camera). Brian zoomed out a bit, revealing that Daniel was sitting next to Anna. Her hand was in his lap. He looked handsome with his auburn hair curled and his jacket unbuttoned.

"So if I'm right, you two actually the mother and the step-father of Megan," Brian's voice said on the recording.

"That is correct."

"You are right."

"And you two were actually the ones that brought her here to Townsville."

Very unwillingly, on Anna's part.

"Yes, well -" Anna stopped. I could tell that she was trying to think of a way she could tell the story without accidentally insulting Richard on a video that many people were going to see. "Megan used to visit her father every summer and just summer only. And he'd moved to Townsville just a few months before she came that year. I told Megan before we brought her there that… since he lived in a new city that that would be a lot to adjust to so soon, and that she didn't have to go through that if the thought of it made her too nervous."

Did I even have to bother to point out that the reason Anna hadn't wanted me to go visit Richard was because she thought that he was completely incapable of raising a child properly, let alone a teenage girl?

"Not me, I thought it was great," Daniel disagreed with his wife. At least _he_ was being honest. "I thought it was a great idea for Megan to go and get to know her father better, and maybe meet a bunch of new people. She met more people than I would have ever dreamed of, and that makes me really happy."

"While Megan was away, did you hear from her at all? Did she ever communicate with you? Did you ever have any idea what was going on with her?"

Anna turned and exchanged a look with Daniel real quick. Then she turned back to Brian and said, "For a time she called me every night. She seemed very unhappy with the place. She was always complaining about things but she insisted that she wanted to stay, so I let her stay." At least she was beginning to be more honest now. "Then out of nowhere she stopped calling, and I became very worried."

Daniel leaned forward and said, "A coworker of mine began showing me news articles from The Townsville Times, telling about how Megan was a super heroine and about how she was fighting crime alongside the Power Puff Girls. I couldn't believe it. Anna had an even harder time trying to believe it."

Anna sighed and gave a chuckle. "After all, this was a very well-behaved, non-action girl who'd only taken karate for one week in her whole life and that was back when she was six-years-old at a summer camp."

"I don't know how awkward this is with both of you in the room and all, but, Anna, when did you and Richard get divorced?"

Anna sighed again. "When Megan was nine."

"And do you think that the divorce had anything to do with her being so well-behaved? Do you honestly think that it may have diminished her innocence, taking her childhood away from her? Do you think that her sudden crime-fighting was a way of hers to get back at those with problems to avenge her own problems?"

"Well, no…" Anna looked very uncomfortable now. Daniel didn't look too pleased either. "No… Megan was - Megan was always mature. She took after my side, and my side of the family has always been mature. After the divorce she lost touch with many of her friends. She just… stopped seeing people, I guess. She was fine around the people I worked with and the people Daniel worked with though. She basically seemed more comfortable in a room full of adults than in a room full of children. I'm guessing she could just relate to them more. They were easier to talk to for her. Definitely not your average girl."

I couldn't believe her, telling so much information about me.

"Can we watch another interview?" I asked, turning around to look at Brian.

"Sure," he said, forwarding the rest of Anna's and Daniel's interview.

I still couldn't believe her. Like anything she was saying was anyone's business. I knew it was an interview and all, but still. Anyway, now that I was approaching adulthood I wished I could go back to all those years I'd missed of being a child. The tables had turned since I'd come to live in Townsville.

"Here's your dad Richard," Brian said, playing the tape again.

Richard was sitting there wearing a plaid t-shirt and a pair of jeans.

"I've been told that Megan had always been a certain way before she came to live with you in Townsville. I mean, you've been different places since you and Anna got divorced. Anna remained in New York, but you lived in Hawaii, you lived in North Carolina, you lived in Florida, you lived in San Fran Cisco; what do you think the connection was between Megan and Townsville?"

"With Megan and Townsville there were two connections and two connections only: those were the Utoniums and Ace. I had Megan baby-sit for the Power Puff Girls, and the first few times she did it, she hated it," Richard explained. Oh, that wasn't really anyone's business either. "She felt threatened by the Power Puff Girls because they were better with people than she was. Megan always thought she had a connection with adults, but she met these girls and they blew her away. I think she worried about them like they were competition or something. Like they were her six-year-old rivals. But anyway, Ace was a different story. I worked at an anger management workshop currently, and Megan begged me to bring her along one night. Unfortunately, it was the Gangreen Gangs' night. Ace has a way of talking, you know. Especially a way of talking to women, and I think Megan got that right away. She began doing all this crazy stuff; trying to go see him behind my back, seeking him out and even getting mixed up in bad situations with him…"

"Brian, may I see my friends' interviews?" I talked over the rest of Richard's explanation. I was sick of listening to everybody being so honest. To tell the truth, I didn't really know whether or not I wanted people to hear these interviews anymore. I didn't really want Brian to make the documentary. It was too personal.

Richard had made me sound like some easily-decepted bimbo, and even though I may have been like that at the time, I didn't like to think of myself as being that anymore. Brian changed tapes, and I was now looking at Professor Utonium and Miss Keane. The two of them looked very bashful to be there; I think it was because of each other and not that they were being interviewed.

"So you two are close friends of Richard Brody, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"When Richard told you for the first time that his daughter was going to be staying with him for the summer, living in Townsville, what went through your minds? What were you thinking? What did you expect?"

"I thought that was perfect because my girls needed a baby-sitter, and I wouldn't trust a person other than a daughter of Richard's," the Professor explained. "I knew she would be just as nice as he was, and she was. She was a very nice girl. She was a little high-strung at first though, I must admit."

Oh wow. Gee thanks, Professor. Really.

"I didn't even meet her till the night of Richard's and Ima's wedding rehearsal," Miss Keane said. "She seemed, as the Professor said, very nervous, but I can understand. It's hard for a girl to have to go through her father marrying another woman, especially when it's an evil villainess Sedusa in disguise."

Thank you Miss Keane, for having a brain and a heart.

"Do you think Megan's become more confident? Do you think she's showing improvement in her self belief?"

"Yes, I think so."

"Yeah, I think so too."

"She's getting older, and more famous."

"I would like to see her really blossom though."

They talked for a little while longer (they were the only two so far who hadn't angered me completely), and then next was an interview with the Mayor and Sara. This interview must have been recorded before Sara had married my father, otherwise she would have been with him in it.

Next was the interview with the Power Puff Girls. I was especially interested to see this one. They were sitting there with bright smiles on their faces. Blossom and Buttercup looked open and ready. Bubbles was holding Octi in her arms.

"You three have the honor of being the best friends of Megan Brody."

"Precisely."

"Yeah, that's right."

"Definitely!"

Really the honor was mine, not theirs.

"Can you please tell me about when you first met Megan?"

Oh no.

Blossom spoke up first, of course, "Well, she seemed a little nervous but my sisters and I looked up to her anyway. She was a perfect example of beautiful, intelligent young women in the City of Townsville."

Beautiful, honestly? Ha.

"I could tell it was just a temporary thing, and it was," Buttercup added.

"She was my bestest friend in the world, already!" Bubbles exclaimed.

"Wow, sounds to me like your thoughts on Megan were pretty positive from the start, weren't they?"

"Of course they were."

"Now can you tell me what you thought when Megan started fighting crime with you guys?"

Blossom started as usual, "She seemed pretty good at it, but we were still very worried about her, not having powers and all. I honestly didn't know how long this series of victories was going to last, and it didn't last very long."

Whoa. Ouch.

"I wasn't worried after she beat up Fuzzy Lumpkins," Buttercup said, and I cooled down after that. "That was the most awesome thing I'd ever seen in my whole life! I wished someone had gotten it on camera so I could watch it over and over again! Haha!"

"Megan was my idol," Bubbles said. "I wanted to be just like her!"

"Megan's stopped fighting crime since, but I wish all the best for her in the future," Blossom finished off the interview. "And when I speak, I speak for all of my sisters." Buttercup and Bubbles nodded in agreement.

"Okay, Megan," Brian said taking a deep breath, while ejecting the friends tape and putting in the foes tape. "Get ready. Here's the enemies' tape."

I took a deep breath myself. I had to prepare myself. My heart pounded.

The video started with an image of Mojo JoJo sitting on a swivel chair in his living room. Ugh, I hated seeing his living room. Such bad memories of being there. He didn't look very happy, but he didn't look angry either. He just looked neutral, and professional, like he wouldn't mess up the interview.

"So you are one of Megan's arch nemesis'?" Brian wanted to clarify.

"Yes," said Mojo nonchalantly.

"How did it begin? Where did the vendetta take place?" Brian was curious.

"Everything had been going according to the plan at first -"

"Wait, what do you mean by that? What plan?"

"Uh… oops. Well, when I heard about Megan being a Power Puff Girl and about how all of the other villains wanted to take advantage of her because she had no powers, I decided that that would be the perfect opportunity to do what I wanted. I promised the girl protection (she really needed it), and super powers if she got me a bottle of Chemical X. Sneakily and ever-so cleverly, I used the Chemical X for myself, and used it so that I would have powers to take over Townsville with! Normal girls can never do anything really, or at least, that's what I always used to think. I've been proven wrong of that a couple times, and many of them were Megan. She came for me after I got my super powers, pursued me with the Antidote X, and got rid of them. Then after she left Townsville, she came back for her father and her friends, who I kidnapped. Of course she didn't beat me that time, but she had the nerve to come back and try! I would like to see her get hers one day."

"Uh….. Wow….. I honestly don't think I have anything else to say to you, Mojo. I think you pretty much said it all."

"Good. So we're done?"

That had me just as speechless as it had Brian. Next was Sedusa.

"You were actually one of the villains that, like Mojo and Ace, got very close to destroying Megan's soul," Brian said, and Sedusa looked smug. I hated looking at her. I hadn't seen her in the longest time. It just made me angry seeing her face.

"Guilty," she said in that detestable sugary-sweet, false feminine tone.

"And how were you able to do that? That's actually very impressive. Not many of the villains were able to get to Megan that much. Not even HIM, who's the manipulative evilest of the evil."

Oh, so impressive. I didn't see what was so impressive about getting close to destroying my soul. He was just flirting with Sedusa like every other guy did.

"Well, I used the easiest way I could possibly think of," Sedusa explained in a high-pitched, breathless tone. "It's the easiest way a woman can destroy a young girl's soul: I married her father. Poor Megan had dealt with a lot in the past, especially her mother getting remarried to that handsome Daniel fellow. When Megan heard that her father and I were getting married, she felt like she was losing someone again. And I know that nothing tortures a young girl more than losing someone important to her, especially a family member. I was able to torture her some more by getting the boy she cared about the most to come between her and her father, and then have him pull everything out from under her to make her feel even worse about herself. Unfortunately, Ace cared more than I would have liked."

What a monster. She seemed so remorseless admitting everything.

"Was that your downfall? Is Ace what brought you down?"

"Definitely. I would say it was Ace completely. Oh - calm down, babies. My apologies. My hair is very sensitive on the subject."

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. Oh, she was an enchanting person, wasn't she?

The interview ended pretty much there after that. Wow. That was riveting.

Next Brian made me suffer through the Amoeba Boys, who only declared that they would get me one day. I would probably be dead before they could figure out how they were gonna do that. Also, Princess just talked about how I didn't make her a Power Puff Girl and Fuzzy just whined about me beating him up in public.

"I know you're sensitive on the subject of HIM right now," Brian told me. "So I'm not sure if you really want to watch his…"

"Just let me see it," I said, wanting to get this over with. "I can handle it."

"HIM," Brian's voice said shakily to a very lanky HIM sitting down and wearing nothing but a bit of lingerie. No one knew how to dress appropriately the way HIM did. Not. The demon-creature was taking a drag on his cigarette, causing for Brian to cough every so often. "So… you never like to lose. But it seems that you didn't get as close to destroying Megan as some of the other villains did."

"Brian Larsen. Poor, poor, poor, simple-minded Brian Larsen," HIM cooed. The sound of his voice chilled me. "I'm afraid you don't understand. How was I supposed to get close to destroying Megan's soul? She was not attracted to me (though I cannot see why not) the way she was attracted to Ace. She was not promised protection and super powers by me the way she was promised protection and super powers by Mojo. She was not almost forgotten by her father because of me the way she was almost forgotten by her father because of Sedusa. In fact, I was at a bit of a disadvantage during the first few months of Megan's stay in Townsville because I did not have a cunning plan like the others did. I must admit, sir, that I often act based on what I'm feeling inside my body, not what's inside my brain."

"…I see….. So do you feel - …embarrassed about Megan?"

"Embarrassed, no. Ashamed, maybe."

"Well, would you be too ashamed to tell me what you think about her?"

"Alright, then. What I think about Megan… I think…. I do believe that she is very tense. A little too tense. She needs to loosen up, I think. She needs to be more… elastic. Hmm. There's an interesting way of putting it. She needs to go on a long vacation, I think. Maybe go get a massage or some exercise. Or maybe she just needs to get out of all that clothing -"

"Please, PLEASE turn it off!" I begged. "PLEASE."

"I warned you," Brian reminded me, forwarding the rest of HIM's interview.

"Yeah you did, but I had no idea he would go that far," I panted heavily, my blood running cold. Several shudders ran down my back. "Talk about acting unprofessional for an interview."

The interview seemed to last forever. HIM looked manic through most of the forward. I cringed thinking of what else he could be saying. And Brian was going to be showing this to people? "Here's the last one," said Brian, playing the tape. It was Ace. "I couldn't get the rest of the Gangreen Gang. They wanted me to pay."

"I know Megan Brody really well. Like really, really well, if you know what I mean. Haha. I've seen Megan. Pretty much all of her. Ya know what I'm sayin'? There isn't one thing about her I don't know, literally."

"I can't believe this," I said in disbelief, shaking my head.

"What?" Brian asked curiously.

"He's telling a bunch of lies," I said. "He and I have never been close at all. I'm not that type of girl. I don't even like him. You're going to be showing these to people?"

"Well, yeah, and I have to keep them all in the documentary because I want to have a bunch of different view-points in there," Brian explained.

"You're not going to put them in if you don't get the permission to do so from the main subject of your documentary," I snapped at him. "Which you're not going to get. Sorry, Larsen. Looks like you're not gonna make that big picture."

I got up, marched right over to the VCR, and ejected the video. I threw it across the room, but Brian was unfortunately somehow able to catch it before it hit anything. "No Megan, I have to make this picture! I can make a lot of money off -"

"At what cost?" I wanted to know, glaring at him. I crossed my arms. "Well?"

He started stuttering. He couldn't come up with a good answer for that.

"Exactly," I said triumphantly. "Sorry you're poor, Larsen. But your lack of wealth isn't going to make me say yes to putting this big defamation of character out there."

"You'd have to pay me not to put this out there!" Brian said angrily.

"Fine, I'll pay you," I gave in. "How much ya want, Larsen?"

"More than you have, Princess Townsville," he spat in a cruel tone of voice. Princess. That gave me a thought. "You'll never be able to come up with all the money I'm gonna need from you."

"Not true," I disagreed with a smirk.

Author's Notes: My best friend's parents are divorced, so she was able to tell me what it feels like to be the child of a divorce. Ugh, Ace is not my type at all. But if anyone out there likes that, go for it. I'm so sorry it took me such a long time to post but this is the last chapter I've written so far and I wrote it back in July. Expect a month to go by before I post another one (I'm so sorry! I'm just so busy lately!). I will post though. I promise. I'll keep updating.


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